Life or Death: A Minecraft Story Mode Novel - Vol 1-4
by LizzyTheKitty
Summary: Katherine and her best friends, Jesse, Axel, Olivia, and Reuben, thought that Endercon was going to be just like it had always been. They would lose the building competition, eat lots of cookies, raid the cake booth, and have a good time. But all that changed when a WitherStorm was released. Little do they know that the WitherStorm isn't the only evil to awaken...
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Katherine's POV

"Would you rather fight 100 chicken-sized zombies, or 10 zombie-sized chickens?" Olivia asked Jesse, "just to be clear, you wouldn't have any weapons or armor."

I looked up from the _Fault in our blocks_ book Olivia had made me read and watched Jesse think about his answer as he practiced his fighting skills on the wooden dummy in the corner.

"I'd have to go with the zombie-sized chickens, not because I want to or think it would be easy, but because it would be an abomination."

"Imagine their giant feet!" Olivia replied sarcastically.

"Like I said, an abomination." Jesse defended himself.

"Soooo, I put a daylight sensor on the roof…" Olivia started.

"Mhmhm," Jesse and I said simultaneously, not really listening.

"… And if I'm right these lights should turn on once it gets dark." She continued.

"Mhmhm." We said, again, not really knowing what we were 'mhmhm-ing' about.

"I mean," Olivia continued obliviously, "I didn't want to just leave Ruben here with nothing while we were at Endercon."

Jesse and I snapped our attention to Olivia as she said that.

"Ahem, but Ruben is coming with us." Jesse said as Ruben, his pet pig, pushed the armor stand back in its place and smiled excitedly.

 **(A/N: You all know that sweet, innocent, adorable Reuben smile ❤)**

Olivia sighed, "I know. I'm not saying he shouldn't come. I'm not! But it's just that he makes us look like… amateurs. Now don't get me wrong, I like having him around but, isn't it weird that you take him with you _everywhere_ you go?"

Jesse looked at Reuben. "He's my wingman. Everyone wants to talk to the guy with the pig." Ruben jumped onto the crafting table in sitting in front of the window and nodded in agreement.

I shook my head and smiled at the two and decided not to intervene.

"You mean talk _about_ the guy with the pig. Like 'who's that weird guy with the weird pig. How weird.'"

Jesse glared at Olivia.

I looked up from my book. "That's not the nicest thing to say, Olivia." I said, putting my book in my pocket and crossing my arms.

She sighed, "I didn't mean anything by it. I'm glad he's coming. I just don't want to give people one more reason to call us losers." Olivia turned back to her contraption with a sad look on her face.

"Embrace being a loser Olivia! And then you can be _anything_!" Jesse said excitedly.

"What if I want to be a winner?"

"Anything _but_ that." He said.

"Hey, at least we win at being losers!" I said reassuringly, throwing my arms in the air triumphantly.

We all started laughing, until we heard a creeper below the trap door on the floor that served as the entrance and exit to their treehouse.

" _Ssssssss…_ "

My silver eyes widened.

 _Please don't blow up, please don't blow up, please don't blow up…_ I thought desperately.

"BOOM!" Axel yelled, wearing a green creeper mask and popping his head through the trap door.

"AAAAHHHH!" we screamed.

Ruben was so startled he fell right off the crafting table.

"Oh man! That was awes-Oof!" Before Axel could finish, Ruben head-butted him in the stomach angrily.

"Axel?! What the crap was that for?!" Jesse exclaimed.

"You gave me a HEART ATTACK!" I screamed, my hand on my chest.

"Great, now I'm gonna smell like pig at Endercon." Axel complained.

"Axel, that wasn't funny!" Olivia said, and we all gave him the evil-eye.

"I brought you good times and now I'm being punished for it?" He asked angrily.

"You scared us half to death!" I said.

Olivia sighed, "do you have the fireworks?" she asked.

Axel's eyes lit up and we looked at him expectantly. "Yes. I even brought something for the little guy." He said, pulling out an Enderdragon costume from his pockets and putting it on Ruben.

"He looks _awesome_!" Jesse exclaimed as Ruben gave his best dragon roar, which sounded more like a strangled pig-dragon crossbreed, but was still good nonetheless.

I giggled.

"It only took me a million hours to make it." Axel exaggerated.

"Alright, alright." Olivia said, and we forgave him.

"You do have the fireworks, right?" Olivia asked Axel again.

"Yes, waiting on you guys!" He replied in exasperation.

"Then let's go." Olivia said.

"Okay, but I just need to grab some things first." Jesse said as we started climbing down the trap door.

~le time-skip of time-skipyness~

"Okay, I heard a pretty juicy rumor about the Endercon building competition, but you guys have to promise not to say _anything_!" Axel said excitedly. "Plus, it comes in two parts, each part more exciting than the last!"

"Spit it out Axel!" Jesse said excitedly.

"Well, part one, according to my sources, the special guest at this year's Endercon is none other than Gabriel the warrior him freaking-self!" Axel said excitedly.

"Woah, what's part two?!" I asked, my eyes growing wider by the second.

"Part two is that whoever wins the building competition will get to meet him!" Axel said wistfully.

"Meeting Gabriel would be a dream, and an honor." Jesse said.

My mouth just hung open until Olivia closed it for me. "Wouldn't want a bat flying in there would we?" She joked.

I glared playfully at her.

"Now we _have_ to win." Jesse said.

"Okay," Olivia says and we all stop and stand in a circle, "so what's the plan?"

"We don't just build something functional, we build something _fun_!" Jesse says. "Once we build the fireworks machine like we planned, we build something cool on top of it!"

"You might be into something…" Olivia said thoughtfully.

"I think so too, so I say we should build a Creeper!" Axel said.

"Wouldn't an Enderman be scarier? I'm way more scared of Endermen than I am of Creepers." Olivia protested, giving Axel a look. He rolled his eyes at her.

Jesse looked at me. The first thing that came to my mind was a zombie.

"A zombie?" I shrugged.

"let's go with Olivia's plan." Jesse said.

I was relived. A zombie had sounded like a lame idea anyway. Almost _no one_ feared zombies anymore.

"Awwww… Olivia's thing?" Axel complained.

"Are you _whining_?" Olivia teased.

"Of course not. I was just saying _Awwww_ -some!"

I rolled my eyes.

" _Everyone knows you were complaining, Axel!"_ I thought to myself. "You think we have all we need?" I asked.

"It wouldn't hurt to grab a little more…" Jesse said.

"Okay then, when we are all done collecting we will meet back here, sound good?" I asked.

They all nodded their agreement.

"This year, we _can't_ lose. Can. Not. Bring it in!" Jesse said.

"Okay, 'prepare to dare' on three… no, 'preparing is daring'… no that's the same thing… forget it! 'Team' on three…" Jesse finally said.

"One, two, three, Team!" They said in unison. And went to collect supplies.

* * *

 **~Time skip, brought to you by Frito-Lay~**

As the team walked to the building competition, Olivia said, "we are so ready for this!"

…Then some idiot walked by. "Nice pig, LOSERS."

We glared after him as he walked away.

"Oh, great!" Axel said, looking in front of them at the building competition check-in desk, "it's Lukas and the Ocelots, the rivalry continues!"

Standing at the desk were four people in black leather jackets with ocelot-head logos on the back. There were three boys and one girl. Lukas, the leader of the Ocelots was a blonde-haired boy with sky blue eyes. The boy to his right was a brown haired bearded guy named Gil, and on his left stood Aiden, with light brown hair and green eyes, he was the meanest of the group. The girl's name was Maya, and she, like most of the others, also had brown hair. She had blue eyes, which were slightly aquamarine. Just at that moment, Aiden noticed them and elbowed Gil and Maya to get their attention.

"Well, look who's here, it's the Order of the Losers!" Gil said.

Maya, laughed at his 'joke'. "Ha! Good one Gil!"

Aiden tried to get Lukas's attention. "Hey, Lukas, get a load of these losers!"

Lukas turned around and said, "c'mon guys, leave them alone."

And the Ocelots walked away to their station, Aiden glaring at them the whole way.

The team walked up to a smiling lady at the desk.

"Name please." She said kindly.

"Axel, and how do ya do?" Axel told her.

The lady kept smiling. It was a little creepy. "No, your team name." She said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh… a team name… uhhh…" Axel said, trying to think of one.

"We are _not_ ready for this…" Olivia said.

Jesse looked like he was about to speak, but I cut him off before he said something stupid like 'Order of the Pig'. "We're the uh… the Order of the Ender!" I glanced at my necklace, it was made of an ender pearl. It didn't look like a normal ender pearl though, this one was bright blue ang gold. I had always had it.

"Okay, _Order of the Ender_! You are in booth five." Ugh. That happy look is _so_ creepy.

"Thanks!" Jesse said.

Axel went through the gate first, but got stuck and I shoved him free. Aiden just so happened to see and laughed at us. Then we went to booth five to start working on our Enderman.

"They have a beacon!? A freakin' beacon!? Freakin' beacon!?" Axel said, looking at the Ocelot's beacon.

"They're not just building a beacon, they're building a _rainbow_ beacon!" I realized.

"Their difficulty score is going to be higher than our total score! We're gonna lose…" Olivia added gloomily.

"Faith." Jesse told her.

"Huh?" Olivia asked, confused.

"You've got to have faith Olivia! Just a sliver, a portion! Just a little faith. Plus, I'm hungry… To win!" He said reassuringly.

"Well we should probably stop staring at them…" Olivia started.

Too late.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the Order of the Losers, again!" Aiden said.

"We were just looking." Olivia stated.

"There will be plenty of time to look, once it wins and gets shown at Endercon!" Aiden told her.

"Well you're being unpleasant." Axel said.

"Well, maybe not all of you," Aiden continued, looking down at Reuben. "Endercon doesn't allow outside food or drink!"

I glared at him and curled my fists.

"I'm talking about your pig!" He snapped.

"Reuben is not food. But soon, you might be if you keep antagonizing us!" I snarled, wanting to punch the smug look off Aiden's face.

"Oh yeah? I bet I could take you on with my bare hands!"

I cracked my knuckles. "Bring it, punk!"

"Hey, hey, hey! _No one_ is going to fight _anyone_ , okay? This is a building competition, _not_ an arena!" Jesse said, holding me back by my arm.

"Aiden! Stop screwing around, we have work to do!" Lukas called, oblivious to the recent threats.

"You guys are lucky I'm busy." Aiden said, stalking away.

"Hey Jesse. Guys." A voice said from behind. I turned to see Petra, an orange haired girl with a blue striped bandana and an unforgettable reputation. She had her iron pickaxe slung over one shoulder casually.

"Hi Petra!" I said happily.

Then Lukas walked over.

"Hey, Petra! I just want to thank you for that Wither Star." He said.

"No problem Lukas." She replied.

"Wait, you helped these tools?" Axel asked her angrily.

"For the right price, I'll help anyone." She said. "Anyway, see you later. If you need me, you know where to find me." Petra called behind her back as she walked away.

"But, none of us know where to find you!" Olivia called after her.

"Exactly." Petra replied.

"Well… uh… if you're cool with Petra you're cool with us." Lukas said, "So let's forget about our rivalries and just make this about how cool our builds are."

"May the best team win," I said cheerfully and stuck out my hand. He shook it with a smile.

"Be careful what you wish for!" He said jokingly.

"Oh, we'll see." I said gravely. And we went back to our builds.

"Building starts… now!" the always-happy lady said, and set off a firework to signal the beginning of the building competition.

* * *

 **~time-skip 'cuz I am bored~**

"Ruben!?" I called.

Long-story-short we built our Enderman, Aiden broke a stone block containing a pool of lava. Cuz he is an IDIOT! And next thing I know Ruben is on fire and Jesse is telling Olivia and Axel to protect the build.

 _And now here I am… in a dark forest… in the middle of nowhere!_ I thought to myself angrily. Why did Jesse and I have to split up?! I don't even have a sword.

I came to a fork in the path and took a right turn. "Ruben!? Are you there?" Still nothing.

I yelp as I see a spider crawling up to me and search my pockets for any kind of weapon I could find. I settled for a stick that I had left over from the build I did earlier. I held my flimsy little stick like I would if it were a sword. This was gonna suck.

"Alright, stick vs. spider…. I got this…" I said to myself.

 _Who are you kidding?! You're gonna die!_ I thought frightfully. I took a deep breath which caught in my throat when more mobs poured out of the darkness.

I heard Jesse yelling for Ruben to stay back from deeper in the forest. "Jesse!?" I called desperately as the mobs walked towards me. _"I have had enough of all these stupid mobs!"_

There was a flash of bright light that came from somewhere in front and below me and I was thrown backwards, temporarily blinded. _What was that?!_ I shook the thought from my head, I'd worry about it later.

The spider took my temporary blindness as a signal to try and tackle me, and I just managed to dodge the attack, turn around, pick myself up, and run away as fast as my feet would carry me.

" _You will join Death!"_

Did that spider just talk? I paused and looked back and thought I saw the mob's eyes take on a purple glow.

" _He will teach you the true meaning of power!"_

This wasn't right! _MOBS DON'T TALK!_ What was happening? I pushed the thought away for further scrutiny and continued running, but before I could get more than fifteen blocks away from the mobs an arrow lodged itself in my left leg and I fell face-first on the ground. I turned on to my back. The spider took this second chance to land on top of me before I could even cry out. I stared into its burning red eyes- only, they weren't red.

They were purple.

" _You know you can't escape me. You know you can't escape Death!"_ I closed my eyes. The spider bit my shoulder and I cried out. _"Now you belong to Death!"_

"Katherine!?"

I heard someone call my name and the spider's weight was lifted of me. "Ow…" I moaned.

Someone tapped my shoulder. Jesse!

"Jesse?" I asked.

"Kath? Are you okay?" Asked a familiar voice. Petra!

"Jesse? Petra?" I asked, lifting my head to see my two friends standing over me.

"Yes. Now c'mon. We have to get back to my place." Petra replied.

Jesse helped me stand.

"Are you hurt?" He asked.

"I don't think so..." I said.

The greatest pain I had ever felt jolted through my head and all I could see was a giant pair of burning purple eyes.

" _YOU. ARE. MINE."_

And the world went black.

* * *

 **I hope you guys liked the first chapter of my Minecraft Story Mode fanfic! I have been working on it for about two years now, and I swear I've edited this chapter five billion times.**

 **Right now this story doesn't have a cover, but I swear I'm working on it.**

 **I do not own Minecraft or Minecraft Story Mode. I do not own any of the characters listed above (except for Katherine, and various other villains and characters that will make their appearances throughout the story).**

 **Feedback and constructive criticism is appreciated! Please no flames!**

 **If you have any questions about the story, just ask! I'll be here quite frequently.**

 **Bai~**

 **LizzyTheKitty**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Katherine's POV

 _Child? Child of grey? You are safe now._

 _You shouldn't make promises you can't keep._

 _Don't worry, Cloud that Covers Sky, the Child of Grey will be fine._

 _How can you be sure?_

 _I just know. Something deep inside of my being just knows._

 _But you were there, Life of Living Remembered, Death of Dead Forgotten has claimed the Child of Grey, we have lost._

 _Nothing is ever lost, Cloud that Covers Sky, remember that. They can be missing, or even almost impossible to obtain, but never lost._

 _Of course._

 _Child? Child of Grey? Can you hear me?_

 _I don't think she can hear you._

 _The comatose can always hear. They hear things we cannot, secrets of the universe whispered into their ears, only to be pushed to the depths of their minds on awakening, never to be considered again._

 _Of course._

 _You must find Child of Grey. Tell her of her past, then bring her to me. Can I trust you with this daunting task?_

 _Of course, Life of Living remembered._

 _Then it is about time you were off, Cloud that Covers Sky. I must inform Ray of Shining Light that the Child of Grey has been found, and that he must take charge of her training._

 _Then I shall be off. I will assure you that my mission will be successful._

 _It must be, Cloud that Covers Sky. For the world to survive, we must find the Child of Grey._

I woke up in a dimly lit cave with Jesse, Ruben, and Petra. Jesse and Petra were just finishing up a conversation and Ruben had a black eye. "What happened?" I asked, wondering where I was.

"You were attacked by a spider and a bunch of other mobs in the middle of the forest at night." Petra told me.

"Oh. Okay."

I kinda remembered now. Didn't the mobs talk to me or something?

I stood up, but had to lean on the cave wall because of my leg.

"You need help?" Jesse asked me.

"Nah, I'm good." I told him.

We walked out of the cave and came to a bridge. It was a stone bridge with no railing, and it was a _long_ way down to the water below.

"Look, Endercon's all lit up!" Petra said.

"We won?!" I said with surprise and excitement. "Finally! Who's the loser now, Aiden?! Whoo!"

"It's about time we beat Lukas and his gang of jerks! What kinda name is the Ocelots anyway?" Jesse said.

"You know," Petra began, "Lukas has come through for me in tough situations, you might want to get to know him, just in case."

"I don't need a lecture on the power of collaboration, Petra." Jesse argued.

"How 'bout a lecture on the power of my fists? It's short… but _deadly_." She joked.

"You wouldn't _really_ , right?" I asked cautiously, holding my hands up protectively in front of my face.

"All I'm saying is if you run into him at Endercon, try talking to him." Petra finished.

"You might be right…" Jesse agreed reluctantly.

I heard a scuffle behind me and turned around, there was a zombie hoard coming from Petra's cave. I looked the other way and saw creepers blocking the other end of the bridge. "We're trapped!"

"Okay… there's only one way off this bridge..." Petra said, "whatever we do, we do together."

Ruben squealed in fright.

"We jump!" Jesse said after a moment of consideration.

"What do you think, Kathy?" Petra asked me.

"Let's do it!" I agreed, even though we were about to jump off a bridge that was one-billion feet above the water.

 _Totally_ not terrifying. At all.

"Okay, you're sure?" Petra asked nervously. _Apparently,_ I didn't look sure enough.

"Yeah." Total confidence.

"Alright, JUMP!" Jesse yelled, and he plummeted off the bridge, followed by Petra.

 _Dammit, I had REALLY hoped for today to be an uneventful one, and here I am- plummeting off a bridge! Well… here goes nothing!_

I jumped off a bridge.

Time seemed to slow down as I fell fast toward the water. Halfway to the water I realized something. _How am I supposed to swim!? I have an arrow in one-fourth of my limbs!_

I plunged backwards into the water and tried to right myself.

Now, you might think swimming without one of your limbs is hard, but if you just let yourself float to the surface, it not that bad. My head broke the surface just long enough to fill my lungs before something landed on top of me and I went back under.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Third person POV

"Ow, it burns it burns!" Jesse said as he belly-flopped onto the water.

"Don't you know? You dive _into_ the water, not land on top of it!" Petra says playfully, then her look turns to worry.

"Jesse… where's Katherine?"

He looked around. "I don't see anything!"

Petra dived under the water to look for her. She saw Katherine being dragged down by a zombie. Katherine was going back and forth between punching it and beating it with a stick, though the attacks didn't do much damage since she was underwater.

Petra swam up and broke the surface. "She's being dragged down!" She told Jesse.

Katherine's POV

I beat the zombie with everything I had, but physics wouldn't have it. Darn water!

The zombie's eyes turned purple.

 _No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no…_

" _Joining me is MANDATORY."_

For a moment I forgot I was underwater, and a moment was all it took to do the most amazing thing I have ever done.

" _Leave me alone!"_ I screamed. My necklace glowed. I lifted my hand calmly towards the zombie as if this kind of thing happened every day. A beam of white light shot out of my hand and hit the zombie square in the chest, causing it to tear itself apart and turn to ash with a tearing sound.

 _What did I just do?_ I wondered. That's when I realized that I had no air left. To make matters worse, whatever it was I had just done sucked the energy out of my body.

I started to sink, there was no more air left in my body left to keep me afloat, and I didn't have enough energy to swim to the surface.

 _No! I don't want to die yet!_ My body hit the floor. I looked at the surface above. It was so far away…

I saw a silhouette coming closer. It was Jesse and Petra! They grabbed my arms and hauled me out of the water. When my head boke the surface, I coughed and spluttered.

"Thanks guys," I said once I caught my breath. "I owe you one."

Petra asked if I was okay.

"I… think… so…" I said between coughs.

They drag me to the shore where I lay there, gasping. Jesse, Ruben and Petra hovered over me, looking worried.

"Katherine… what _was_ that?" Jesse asked.

"We saw a bright light and…" Petra trailed off. "Kath, what did you do to that zombie?"

"I…I-I don't… know… I was just hitting it when… I just… blew it up? I-I don't really know _what_ happened."

Reuben oinked in concern.

"Guys, I'm fine." I told them, though they didn't look sure. "We can head back to Endercon now." I said, getting up.

Jesse, Petra, and Reuben looked at each other, but said nothing. The walk back to Endercon was a long one, but we still made it in one piece. Eventually, I could walk without limping _too_ badly, and soon we came across Olivia and Axel standing next to our winning Enderman build.

"Jesse! Katherine! And… _Petra_!?" Olivia asked in bewilderment.

"Hey, guys! You all know Petra, my new super-close friend. We're super-close now." Jesse says.

I face palm and Petra just stands there, looking like she wanted to die.

 _I feel your pain._ I thought inwardly.

Olivia and Axel raised their eyebrows and looked at him suspiciously.

"We ran into each other as I was looking for Ruben." Jesse informed them.

"Speaking of," Olivia began, "1. What happened to Ruben's eye? And 2. What happened to YOU?" Olivia asks Jesse and then me.

I then give a little cough, still a little water-logged from earlier, and gestured for Jesse to take the stage.

"Ruben and I had a run-in with some zombies, they whacked him good, but Ruben held his own." Jesse told her.

Ruben smiled and gave a little oink.

"I may have run into a spider and a bunch of other mobs, gotten shot by a skeleton, almost drowned jumping of a bridge with zombies and creeper coming at us from both sides, and had an under-water death-match with a sentient zombie." I informed them in one breath, then coughed a bit more.

Axel and Olivia looked at me with wide eyes.

"Woah, Kathy… you sure you don't need to lie down?" Axel asks.

"Yeah. I mean, an underwater death match? That sounds a _little_ extreme." Olivia agrees.

"I'm fine, seriously!" I say, then go into another fit of coughing. "That proves nothing."

"Mhmhm…" Axel and Olivia say at the same time, unimpressed.

"Well, Jesse I think it's time to go do that… 'Thing'" Petra reminded Jesse.

"Oh, right, the 'thing'" Jesse replied.

 _Did I miss something?_ I thought, giving the two of them a look.

"Subtle," Olivia said.

"Yeah?"

"As a punch to the face," She continued, raising an eyebrow. "Axel and I are gonna look around."

Axel turns to me. "Wanna come with us, Kathy? I heard there's free cake by the map booth."

I watched Jesse and Petra walk into a dark spooky alley. "No thanks. I'm just gonna wander around by myself for a bit." I told them.

"You sure?" Olivia asks me.

"Yeah."

"Okay then, well you know where to find us!" Axel said as Olivia spotted a Redstone booth and started dragging him towards it.

I smiled and shook my head. _Those two will never change._ I thought happily, and started walking.

As I walked, my mind switched to the Ocelots. _Why are they so mean to us? I mean, I know that we're competition, but seriously!_ I then realized that Lukas hadn't really been mean to us, all he did was stand around and watch every time Aiden decided to pick a fight. _I guess Petra was right, Lukas isn't that bad, in fact, he's kinda sweet._

I then thought about what Petra had said on the bridge. _Maybe she's right…_ I thought. I began to think of his characteristics to decide if he would be a worthy friend. _He's a good builder, he can handle himself in a fight, he wasn't mean to us when we were little, that was all Aiden, Gill, and Maya, he's brave, he's nice to us, he's cute- WAIT WHAT!?_ My train of thought comes to an abrupt stop. What am I thinking!? _Am I!?_

She hoped she wasn't. _Nope. Nope, nope, nope, nope, NOPE! Never! Nuh- uh! NEVER!_ I shook my head to clear my thoughts. But they just kept coming back. I started having a mental war with myself.

 _But what if-_

 _Nope._

 _Maybe-_

 _Nope._

 _If I could just-_

 _Nope._

 _It would be nice if-_

 _STOP IT SELF!_

As I was lost in thought, I ran into Jesse, who was running full-sprint in the opposite direction. I yelped as my injured leg got tweaked the wrong way.

"Kathy! Man, I'm so sorry!" Jesse said, helping me up.

"That's okay…" I told him. "Why were you running so fast? The Gabriel Keynote has been sold out for ages!"

"Well, remember that 'thing' I had to go do with Petra?" he asked.

I nodded.

"Well, long-story-short we met up with this guy and he cheated Petra and me out of a diamond. We're trying to track him down, you in?"

"Yep!" I replied excitedly. Jesse told me the guy's description and we split up.

I soon saw Lukas standing next to a potion stand and decided to ask him to help us. "Hey, Lukas." I said, walking over to him.

"Hey, Katherine … are you okay? You look… wet."

I look down at my clothes and notice that they are still soaked from nearly drowning earlier. _Oh, so_ that's _why I'm so cold._

"I… uh… might've gotten attacked by a spider and other mobs, shot by a skeleton, cornered on a bridge, jumped about a hundred feet into a river, got attacked underwater by a sentient zombie, and then nearly drowned…" I say awkwardly.

He widened his eyes.

"Uh… are you sure you're okay? Getting attacked by a spider, getting shot by a skeleton _and_ falling off a bridge and nearly drowning because of a zombie in _fifteen minutes_ can be pretty intense." He said.

"I'm sure." I said, but then started coughing again.

"I'm not all that sure I believe you." He said once I stopped coughing.

"Anyway, I had a question." I told him, trying to change the subject.

"Sure, what do you need?" He asked.

"Well, I'm helping Jesse and Petra look for this creepy guy that cheated him and Petra out of a diamond, care to help us track him down?" I asked.

"Woah! Everyone knows you NEVER mess with Petra, not if you know what's good for you," he added quietly, "I'll help you look. What does he look like?"

I told Lukas the guy's description, Black hair, shaggy beard, faded green clothing, and a very strange golden belt with a blue stone in the middle. We split up and I eventually found the others. Olivia was standing next to a chicken machine with Jesse, Petra, Axel and Ruben.

"Hey, Kathy." Jesse said, motioning me over.

"Any sign of him yet?" Petra asked us.

"I thought I saw him… but it was a false alarm- wait! There he is!" Jesse said triumphantly. He pointed to where a creepy guy that fit his description was walking toward the dome where the Gabriel keynote was being held.

"But first we need to get past that usher!" Olivia said, pointing to the usher blocking the gate that lead to the keynote. We ran up to him and the usher gave us a quizzical look.

"Soooo… yeah, hi." Jesse said to the usher.

"What will it take to get inside?" Petra asked him.

"Uh… tickets?!" the usher said as if it was obvious, then laughed at them.

"Look, I know this sounds crazy, but we're actually on an important mission." Jesse told the usher.

"Well, I hope your mission came with tickets to the show, 'cuz, like otherwise..." The usher told them. A chicken leaped, or rather flapped, in front of him. "CHIIIIIIKEN!" He yelped frightfully. "CHICKEN! CHICKEN!"

I bit my hand to keep from laughing. _Is he seriously afraid of chickens? What the heck?_

"It's fine… you're a totally cool dude…" He assured himself.

They backed away to form a plan. "It seems that the usher is afraid of chickens!" Olivia realized as the usher tried to shoo one away.

 **(A/N: sorry but I just can't help but point out the usher is afraid of** _**chickens**_ **! Of all things a CHICKEN!? Okay, back to the story!)**

"Ha. No kidding." I added, glancing back at the usher. "That's just sad."

"We need a distraction." Olivia informed us.

"A lot of chickens running around might be a distraction!" Petra said, looking at a chicken machine that just so happened to be on display nearby.

"What would you say if I said that I want to break this guy's chicken machine to create the mother of all distractions?" Jesse asked excitedly.

"But how are we going to get that high?" I asked them.

"Quick! Find something we can use to break that pane of glass!" Petra said, pointing to a glass pane on the chicken machine. We scattered to find something to use. Jesse was at a slime booth so I decided to head that way.

The lady running the slime booth wouldn't give Jesse some slime balls because he had accidently mistaken her for the guy they were looking for. She gave him a mean glare.

"A round of slime balls for everyone please!" Axel said, walking up to them. They walked away, a ball of slime in each hand. Jesse didn't get any because of the 'incident'.

"Wait, this is only eight slime balls! We need one more to make a block." Jesse pointed out.

"Okay, we need one more slime ball, and fast!" Petra told us. Jesse went back over to the slime stand to beg the lady for more slime.

 _Good luck with that, Jesse!_ I thought. I saw Lukas leaning on a pole, tossing a slime ball from hand to hand. He looked quite bored. "Hey, Lukas." I greeted him, walking over to where he stood.

"Hey Katherine." He replied.

"Can you do me a favor?" I asked.

Lukas looked skyward in consideration. "Anything's possible."

"I need slime balls, fast! I swear I have a really good reason."

He considered this for a moment. "Whatever you're doing, count me in!" he said, handing me the slime ball as Axel, Jesse, Petra, Olivia, and Reuben walk up to us.

"Thanks, Lukas." I said, and handed the slime ball to Jesse.

"This guy isn't actually _cool,_ is he?" Axel complained.

"Remains to be seen." Olivia adds.

Lukas glared at them.

Jesse walked over to a crafting table and started crafting a slime block.

"Soo… have you guys been building together long? You have good chemistry." Lukas said, trying to start a conversation to break the tension.

"Are you jealous?" Axel asks him.

"No! I'm just saying that it's nice you have a team that works so well together."

Axel isn't convinced. "Ha! You're _totally_ jealous!"

Lukas just glared at him again.

"Hey, Jesse how's it going?" Axel asked, "you know the drill, 'a slime in every slot and a slot for every slime'."

Jesse finally finishes the slime block. "Ew. Gross." He complained.

Olivia took it off the crafting table and set it on the ground a little way from the chicken machine. Axel gave Jesse a boost to the top of the crafting booth. Jesse ran off the stand, onto the slime block, bounced off, and punched the glass block on the chicken machine, setting free all the chickens.

"My poultry! My precious poultry!" the chicken machine guy cried.

The usher tried to intervene. "Keep your eyes closed, they will peck out your eyes!" the usher said before being knocked over and trampled on by all the chickens. "Ahhhh!" he screamed.

"Quick! Now's our chance!" Petra said, taking my hand and rushing me to the gate.

The usher managed to stand up and noticed us running towards the Gabriel keynote. "Hey! Get back here!" he said before getting knocked over by all the chickens again.

 _Creepy guy, here we come!_


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Katherine's POV

We ran into the crowd of people in the dome waiting for the keynote to begin. The dome was made of stone bricks and the top was made of glass. There were Endercon and Gabriel keynote posters covering the walls, and a stage where I supposed Gabriel was about to give his speech.

"Where did he go?" Axel asked, looking around for the creepy guy. He seemed to have vanished.

"In there! Petra said, pointing to a basement door by the stage that was still open a crack. We walked over to it.

"Wait. What are we going to do once we go in there? We need a plan." Lukas informed us.

"We politely ask for what's ours." Jesse said.

"Short, sweet, and to the point. Not bad." Lukas smiled.

We crept into the basement and peered around the wall. I gasped when I saw all the books.

"Books!" I exclaimed excitedly in a loud whisper.

"Shhh!" Olivia shushed me.

I blushed in embarrassment and started looking around. Luckily the creepy guy wasn't there. I didn't like it here. It was cool, yet very eerie. "I don't want to be here longer than I have to! Let's just get Petra's thingy and get out." I say unsteadily.

"I thought you loved books, Kathy." Olivia teased.

"I love books when they're _not_ in a creepy guy's creepy basement filled with creepy cobwebs and creepy artifacts." I replied.

Jesse and Axel started arguing about stealing some of the guy's stuff.

"I don't want to stoop to his level." Petra told Axel, walking up to the two of them.

"Yeah, the faster we find Petra's Wither skull, the faster we can get the heck out of here!" Jesse tells them.

 _So that's what we're looking for._ I thought to myself. I started searching the shelves. As I was looking, I found a dusty picture frame and picked it up. It was too dusty to see the picture properly, so I blew it off. It was a picture of the Order of the Stone. Everyone in the picture was much younger.

Magnus was on the right, crouching next to Gabriel, who was in a dramatic pose to his left. Soren was standing on the far left, smiling happily, and Ellegaard was to his right, she had one hand on Soren's shoulder and one on Gabriel's.

I smiled and set the picture down to continue looking.

Suddenly, Jesse flipped a switch and there was a rumbling sound, a bookshelf lowered to reveal some blocks arranged in a T shape. One block of Soul Sand stood on the bottom with a weird, pulsing block on top of it, and one Soul Sand block on the left and right of the pulsing thing. A double chest sat in front of the odd configuration.

"What _is_ that?" I asked them, and creeped up to see it.

"Soul Sand," Petra told me, "it was everywhere in the Nether."

Olivia looked at the pulsing block in the middle.

"What is that?" She asked, sticking out her hand to touch it, "maybe if I just take a closer look... Do you see that? It's almost pulsing." Before she could touch it, Jesse leaped up to stop her.

"Don't touch that Olivia!" he said, shaking his head vigorously.

"But I was just-"

"Remember what we're here for! Find that skull!" Jesse reminded her.

Olivia nodded and walked away.

Jesse walked up to the chest in front of the contraption and opened it. "Soo… good news, weird news." Jesse began, "I found the skull but…"

"What the hell?" Petra exclaimed angrily. "Why did I risk my neck for that skull if he's got two of them already!?"

"Maybe he's a trophy collector?" Jesse suggested.

"Wait… Soul Sand… and three Wither skulls…" Lukas began, "That's the recipe for a Wither!"

"We need to get out of here! Quick! Grab the skull and get out!" Petra said.

Just before Jesse could grab one of the skulls, the basement door creaked open.

"Scatter!" Petra told us.

I quickly look around and see a chest to my left. I jumped in and curled up into a tiny ball. I felt something move next to me. I quickly took a torch out of my back pocket, hoping I didn't just jump into a chest with some sort of mob. I shined the light and saw Lukas next to me.

"What are you doing in here!?" Lukas whispers.

"I don't know! What are you doing here?!" I whisper back.

"It was the first hiding spot I could find!"

"How did you get in here so fast?!"

"I'm a really fast at hiding!"

"That makes no sense!"

"It doesn't have to!"

"Yes, it does!"

"Just be quiet so we don't get caught."

"Fine. Whatever." I cracked the lid of the chest open to see the creepy guy we were looking for practicing some sort of speech.

"Surprised to see me? Yes… that's better..."

I heard a potion crash somewhere in the room and held my breath.

"Who's there!" the guy asked. "Come out now!"

"Hello, Ivor." Jesse said, jumping out of his hiding spot.

Petra jumped out of her hiding spot as well. "Thought you could cheat me off and get away with it, didn't you?" she snarled at him.

"You two!" Ivor exclaimed, "What are you doing here?" In a smaller voice he added, "What did you see?"

Olivia and Axel jumped out of their hiding spots as well. I stayed put, not knowing what I was supposed to do.

Ivor said something offensive and Axel got overprotective. "Hey! _Nobody_ talks to my friends like that! So, shut your mouth, _or else_."

"Enough! You've wasted enough of my time already!" Ivor yelled, running up to a 'T' shaped formation of iron. "If you won't leave of your own volition," he threatened, putting a pumpkin on top of the iron 'T', "then I'll happily remove you myself!"

Everyone gasped as the iron rumbled and turned into an iron golem.

"Golem! Show our friends the door, will you?" Ivor commanded it.

The iron golem started to attack Jesse, Axel, Olivia, Petra and Reuben. They narrowly escaped and the four of them made it out the door.

 _Yes!_ I thought triumphantly. _They made- oh crap._ I realized something. My friends had made it out, but Lukas and I were trapped.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Katherine's POV

 _They can't just leave us!_

I tried to calm myself down, but it's hard to take deep breaths when your lungs feel like they are stuffed with coal. I have never had breathing problems before! _That's what happens when you almost drown idiot!_ I scolded myself. To make matters worse I was stuck in a chest with a boy from a rival team and the only way out was past the iron golem.

 _I wonder if Lukas is faring better than I am. After all he IS stuck in a chest while an iron golem bent on destroying us is prowling the room._

We were sitting back-to-back in the tiny double chest. It was quite cramped.

 _At least he's not injured. He's probably faring better than I am._

Lukas's POV

I watched as Jesse and the others left us.

 _Why would they leave us?_ I thought despairingly. _Well, you were mean to them._ I decided to wait. They'd come back, I was sure of it.

"So... How are you?" Katherine asked awkwardly, startling me out of my thoughts.

 _Well, I just happen to be stuck in a chest with a hot rival while an angry golem stalks the room with instructions to kill us from a very creepy dude about to unleash a Wither in Endercon. So yeah… I'm just peachy._

I decided not to say _that_ in front of her.

"Well, other than the golem stalking the room hell-bent on destroying us… I'm peachy. How are you?"

Katherine giggled. I'm just glad I could cheer her up. "Well… I'm good. *cough* I'm glad you're having fun." She joked.

"Are you okay?" I asked her.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

"You keep coughing, like, every five seconds."

"Well, 1. I _did_ almost drown about half an hour ago, and 2. I am _not_ coughing every five seconds."

"Yeah. Sure."

"Shut it, kitty boy!"

"Really? 'kitty boy'? _Real_ mature."

"Really? I thought _purr sure_ it would be funny."

"Oh my god… that is _so_ lame…"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cause such a _catastrophe_!"

"I'm dying of lameness…"

"Pssh, like you could do better."

"In fact, I believe I _can_ do better- "

Before I could finish, there was an explosion, and the chest was knocked sideways. Katherine and I tumbled out and she yelped in pain as her bad leg got twisted the wrong way.

"Ow… that hurt…" she grunted.

I helped her up. "You okay?"

"Yup." She pulled away from me and dusted herself off. "Are you okay?" She asked me.

Yeah, I'm- "

The roof caved in. She pushed me away as a part of the roof landed where I was just standing. "Katherine? Are you okay?" I called through the dust that the commotion caused.

I heard Katherine cough on the other side and ran around the huge piece of ceiling to help her. When I got there, I saw her standing on one leg- the uninjured one- with her hands on either side of her like some sort of Kung Fu master, looking confused.

"Uh… what are you doing?"

Her face lit up. "I finally mastered my backward hand-spring!"

"Right…" I shook my head. "We need to get out of here!" I grabbed her hand and started off toward the exit. We bolted as fast as we could towards the basement door. When we got there, we saw a Wither gobbling up people and blocks. I saw the others with Gabriel running towards the gate. I heard him say something about a fortress and we ran towards them at full speed, not wanting to become the Wither's snack. I looked behind me and noticed that it wasn't just a Wither anymore- it had turned into a Wither Storm.

Katherine's POV

As we were running through Endercon we found Jesse and he ran towards us.

"Katherine!? Lukas!? We thought you were dead!" he said as the others ran up to us.

I coughed. He looks at me, worry plastered on his face.

"Can you run any farther? We could carry you if you can't walk."

I glare at him. "I'm not Cinderella, so back off prince charming!"

Suddenly, the Wither Storm draws its gaze upon us and the group started to scatter.

"Wait! We have to stay together!" Jesse said.

"Jesse!" Petra called. She was in the Wither Storm's tractor beam and was being pulled upwards. Jesse grabbed Petra's hand in his and held onto a pole with his other one. The pole was about to collapse so I ran toward the two of them and jumped up and grabbed Petra's other hand. The pole broke and he and Petra started to be lifted into the air. I held on with all my might, but I started to be lifted into the air despite my efforts, until Gabriel grabbed onto us and the tractor beam released its hold.

"Hurry!" he said.

We get up run as fast as we can through the woods until we come across a fortress made of stone.

"Quickly! Inside the fortress!" Gabriel said urgently, leading us into the inside of the building, "the interior of the temple is made entirely of obsidian. We should be untouchable in there!"

One of the Wither Storm's tentacles reached through the doorway and latched onto my leg.

"No! Someone, help!" I screech.

Jesse tugged on my arms and eventually pulled me free from its grasp.

"Thank you!" I gasped.

"Don't mention it, _not Cinderella._ "

"Ha, ha."

Jesse and I ran into the other room, where the others were standing next to an unlit Nether portal. He lit it, but as he did tentacles started whipping through the air around us. Olivia, Axel, and Reuben wasted no time darting into the portal at full speed.

"Get through the portal, now!" Petra yelled at Jesse, me and Lukas.

"No way, Petra! We're staying!" Jesse told her.

A tractor beam shot through the roof and started to pull Gabriel away.

"Gabriel's caught in the tractor beam!" I shouted.

Petra went to help him but got captured in a tractor beam too.

"Petra!" Jesse ran toward Petra, so I started running towards Gabriel. Lukas was waiting by the portal, frozen in fear. I jumped up to grab Gabriel's leg and a tentacle shot towards me and knocked me halfway across the room before I could get him. As I got up, I could hear Lukas shouting for me to look out. I barely heard him, my ears were ringing as I hoisted myself to my feet. I didn't realize what to look out for until Jesse slammed into me, making us slam into Lukas and we all tumbled through the portal.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Katherine's POV

We were thrown from the portal and onto the netherack floor of the nether. The air was hot and stuffy, and ash fell slowly towards the ground.

"Is everyone okay?" Olivia asked.

Axel looked around. "Where's Petra?" He asked Jesse.

"We did everything we could!" Jesse replied as I stood and shook my head. being slammed by a tentacle through a portal is _very_ disorienting.

"Jesse, tell us what happened!" Olivia demanded.

"It was chaos! There wasn't much we could do!" He told them.

Lukas looked at the ground guiltily. "I got scared, just for a second."

Axel started towards him. "You got _scared_?" he asked angrily.

"It wasn't my fault…" Lukas started to defend himself.

"You got _scared_ and it _wasn't your fault!?_ "

Olivia tried to interfere before anything bad could happen. "Guys, cut it out!" she said.

The portal started to swirl.

"Look! There she is!" I said, relived that the fight would finally be stopped. Much to our surprise, the person who came out of the portal- well, face-planted out of the portal- wasn't Petra… it was Ivor!

"You again!" he snapped angrily. A moment later, one of the Wither Storm's tentacles shot from the portal and started waving around, looking to take one of them with it.

"Duck!" Lukas said and tackled me to the ground as a tentacle whipped through the air where my head was just a split second ago.

"Thanks… I owe you one." I say as I get up.

"I hope I didn't hurt you…" he begins.

"It's okay. At least I'm not that thing's dinner! It would've hurt a _lot_ more had it sucked me up." I tell him.

"No kidding."

I was distracted by Jesse as he punched Ivor in the face. They started arguing some more and Ivor brought something up about a minecart system.

"It was built by the order, it's your only way out!" he explained.

"What about you?" Jesse asked him. He flashed a wicked grin, took an invisibility potion out of his pocket, and drunk it. Then he was gone.

"Let me guess, he also has a potion for somehow magically getting out of this place too!" I shouted angrily.

Lukas pated my back sympathetically. A Ghast must have heard my shout, because one suddenly came into view and started shooting fireballs at us. We started running away, and a moment later some minecarts came into view. They were down a slope about twenty blocks away from us. "Duck!" Jesse shouted as a fireball came hurtling towards us. I didn't move fast enough and got partially hit by the fireball and knocked of the slope. I managed to break my fall by doing a somersault, but sort of bowled over Lukas in the process.

"Ow… sorry!" I said.

"No problem… I kinda deserved that…" he groaned, and I helped him up.

We ran towards the minecarts and each get in one. We ride away, and I notice that Jesse is in front, followed by Reuben, Olivia, me, Lukas and Axel.

"You okay?" Lukas asked. I turn to him and smile.

"Couldn't be better!" I say over the wind rushing past us. "This adventure is a rollercoaster! Literally!"

Lukas smiled, though his expression turned to horror as he peered past my shoulder. "Whoa! That's a drop!"

I look forward and see a huge drop before us.

"What are you talking about new guy? What- Whoa man! You weren't kidding!" Axel exclaimed.

"Everybody, hang on!" Jesse warns us.

I put my hands in the air. Rollercoaster!

"WHOOOOO!" I shout in delight as we ride downwards. I start laughing.

"How does this _not_ freak you out!?" Lukas asked, holding on to the minecart for dear life. I turn back to him.

"Well… other than the nauseating drop, this is kinda fun!" I explain. "Besides! If the Order built this to travel around, it couldn't be dangerous! Right?"

He looked ahead of me again. "Tell that to the lava curtain!"

I look forward in time to see a giant lava curtain up ahead. Now I'm the one hanging on for dear life.

"Jesse! The switch!" Olivia exclaims.

I notice a switch on the side of the rail not far from where we were.

"Arm, don't fail me now!" Jesse says as he sticks his arm out. He flipped the switch successfully and the minecarts came to an abrupt stop and started to lower down. We sighed in relief.

Jesse gave a relieved laugh. "Wow. For a minute there I thought something really bad was gonna happen. But hey! It looks like everything is going to be just fine!" As he said this, the minecarts started going down different tracks.

"Jesse! You jinxed us, damn it!" I said angrily.

Jesse and Reuben went down one track, Olivia down a second track, Axel down a third, and Lukas and I down a fourth.

"Lukas? You still with me?" I ask.

"I'm here." He says. Good he's still behind me.

Lukas and I heard a high-pitched scream.

"Was that Olivia?" Lukas asked with worry.

"I'm pretty sure it was Axel," I said with a small smile, despite the circumstances.

"Axel? _Really..._?" He said with a smirk.

I hear some voices and strain to hear them better. _"Come with us, and you will never feel pain again."_

It sounded familiar…

" _You will come… you will join Death!"_

I then realize that the spider I encountered earlier that day said the same thing.

"Lukas…" I started, "do you hear that?" If I heard it, that meant he should be able to hear it too… right?

He looked around frantically. "What do you mean?" he asked worriedly.

"The voices…" I trailed off, straining to hear them over the sound of the minecarts rolling along the tracks.

"What voices?" he asked. I then realized that he probably couldn't hear what I was hearing. I'm going crazy!

"N-never mind." I said. "It's probably just me going crazy…" I added quietly to myself, hoping it wasn't true. Just then I heard Ghasts, it sounded like two of them.

Their sorrowful cries filled my ears. " _You belong with Death! It is your destiny!"_

 _Why can I understand these things?!_

"Katherine? You sure you're okay?" Lukas asked in concern.

"Uhhh… yes?" I'm not sure what else to say.

"You sure? You don't sound like you're okay." He replied. I was just about to answer when the two Ghasts I had heard flew at us from behind.

 _You will join Death! He will show you real power!_ They screamed in my mind, then one of them shot a fireball at Lukas's minecart.

"Lukas! Watch out!" I cried and pull him into my minecart just as the one he was riding in was blasted from the track and into the lava below.

"What the crap?!" he exclaimed in surprise, "where did they come from?!"

I pull a stick from my pocket. "I don't know!" I yell at him over the screams of the Ghasts and the rattling of the minecart.

He looked at the stick in my hand. "How are you going to fight a Ghast with that?!" he yelled.

"I don't know!" I exclaimed, standing up.

"What are you doing?!" he asked.

"I don't know! Fighting a Ghast!"

"WITH A FUDGING STICK?!"

"DO YOU HAVE A BETTER IDEA?!"

"Duck!"

Lukas yanks me down a split second before I could hit an oncoming wall. We got up in a seating position, I was in front and Lukas in back, it was _very_ cramped. I was practically sitting in his lap, but it was the best we could do with two people in a minecart that was originally intended for only one person.

We turned a sharp corner and were thrown to the side of the minecart. We traveled through a narrow tunnel, and when we came out, the Ghast was nowhere to be found. I couldn't hear it anymore, either.

Lukas and I sighed with relief.

"I guess that wasn't _too_ bad…" I chuckled.

"That was terrible." He said, and we laughed. "Were you seriously about to hit that Ghast with a _stick_?"

"If I had a sword I would've used that instead!"

"How can you _not_ have a sword?"

"Mine broke the other day. I was going to make another one, but I just didn't ever get to it."

"We should fix that."

Suddenly, we crashed into Olivia's minecart, which was connected to Axel's. They look behind themselves at us.

"Why are you two in the same minecart? What happened to the other one?" Olivia asked us.

"A Ghast blew up the other one." I told her.

Axel's eyes widened. "It just blew it up?" He asked. I shrugged.

"Like, Boom? Gone?"

"I guess it didn't really blow it up," I rephrased, "more like it shot a fireball at us."

"Wow. Tough." Olivia said.

"Uhhuh."

Jesse's minecart came out of nowhere and rammed into mine, nearly causing me to fall out of my minecart and into Olivia's.

"Is- heh- is everyone okay?" Jesse asked us.

"Well, I'm not dead." Axel said.

"Ditto. Ditto with the not dead." Olivia added.

"I just can't believe Petra comes down here all the time. This place is _awful_." Lukas said. "Your throat's going to be sore later Axel." He added with a devious grin.

"And why is that?" Axel asked him in a warning voice.

"I'm just saying, wasn't that you screaming?"

"Oh yeah!" Olivia added, "I heard that too! It sounded really high pitched, like a squeaky piston."

"I'm just glad I'm not dead!" I said, trying to break up the fight and change the subject.

"You know those times you reminisce and talk about for the rest of your lives?" Jesse asked us. There was a pause.

"Yeah?" Axel said.

"This is not one of those. Let's not speak about this _ever again_." Jesse told us.

"Here, here." I agreed, and all was silent. We finally got to the portal place, and as we climbed up the stairs Jesse asked Olivia a question.

"So, can you throw-up, like, _inside_ your body?"

"Yes. I know because I just did. About five times." Olivia replied.

"You guys aren't alone." I said.

We climbed up the stairs and onto a platform.

"Wow. You could probably get anywhere in the world from here!" Olivia commented, looking at all the minecart rails stretching out in every direction.

"There's the portal!" Lukas said, pointing to a Nether portal.

"That probably leads to the surface!" I added excitedly.

"So, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Axel exclaimed, walking up to the portal.

"The surface is also where that thing is!" Olivia warned.

Axel stopped dead in his tracks in front of the portal.

"Thanks for being so brave Axel," Lukas said gratefully, thinking Axel was about to go first. Even though I didn't think that was what Axel wanted to do.

"Okay. I'm going. I'm going right now!" Axel said, still rooted to the spot. He glanced back at the rest of us. "Like, right now!"

"I'll go first!" Jesse stepped up. I face-palmed.

"Idiots…" I muttered under my breath and walked towards the portal before anyone could object.

"Less fighting, more walking!" I said, confidently stepping through the Nether portal and back to the Overworld.

When I came out the other side, I saw I was in a small crevice filled with water. It wasn't deep, the water barely came up to my knees. It was dark out, which meant it was night.

"Huh. I was expecting more... I dunno... Wither Storm." I said to myself.

I stepped forward cautiously, making sure there was no Wither Storm. I heard a groan behind me and turned around in time to see a zombie trudging towards me. "Crap..." The zombie lunged, and I raised my arms defensively. It punched at me and I ducked to the side, kicking its legs out from under it.

"Ha, ha!" I exclaimed in triumph. My excitement didn't last long before the zombie took a hold of my arm.

" _Join Death, join Death, join Death..."_ It chanted, its eyes turning purple. It was very unnerving. I yelped in pain as it griped my arm tighter.

"Let go of me!" I snapped, taking the stick out of my inventory and beating the zombie with it. The mob blinked red each time I hit it, but the stupid stick wasn't doing enough damage!

I watched Jesse walk casually out of the portal and stop as he saw me being attacked.

"Jesse! Don't just stand there! Help!" I shouted.

He rushed over and used his sword to kill the zombie.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I said and hugged him gratefully.

"I'm just glad you're okay." He said, breaking the embrace. "You _are_ okay, right?" he checked.

"Well, a zombie grabbed me, but other than that I'm unscathed." I assured him.

"Is it bad?"

"Nah. The mark should be gone by tomorrow morning."

Just then, Axel came through the portal.

"What happened?" He asked.

"There was a zombie." Jesse informed him.

"Is it dead? Like, you know, _dead-_ dead?"

"Yeah," Jesse said, walking to some steps leading to the ground above. The rest of the group made their way out of the portal.

"Where are we?" Olivia asked.

"In the dark; in the middle of nowhere." Jesse informed her.

"We need to build a shelter," Lukas said, "we're way too exposed."

"We could probably make it to the temple now." Axel argued.

"We need a shelter." Jesse said.

"I thought that's what I said…" Lukas began, disappointed that no one was listening to him.

I patted his back sympathetically.

"Then I say we build a quick and dirty hut." Axel suggested.

"Wouldn't a treehouse be better?" Olivia argued.

"Let's build a hut." Jesse agreed.

We started building a hut, and when we finished, we all stood back to admire our work.

"Now we're eye-level with the monsters trying to kill us." Olivia pointed out.

"We could've done a multi-layer thing…" Lukas started, his inner-building-sense going off. We gave him a look. "You know what? It's fine. It's good!"

Lukas hurried inside the dirt hut and we followed.

Jesse used his flint-and-steel to light a small fire in the middle of the hut, and we all went to different parts of the hut. Axel stood to the side and looked at the ground under the fire, as if he wanted it to burn, Lukas sat against the left wall, Reuben sat by the fire and looked at the ground and Jesse just sat there quietly next to him, I sat against the back wall, my right knee to my chest and my left lying on the ground, it didn't hurt _as much_ anymore, but it still hurt. Suddenly Axel gasps, making me jump.

"What is it Axel?" Jesse asked him.

"I have cookies!" Axel replied. "One for me, one for Olivia, one for Jesse, one for Reuben, and one for Kathy. Sorry Lukas, I only have five." Axel says, giving us all a cookie except for Lukas.

"That's okay, I'm not that hungry anyway." He said.

I walked up to him and offered him my cookie. "Here Lukas." I said, handing him the cookie.

"Oh. No. I can't do that." He told me.

I look at him and smile. "Well to bad. Suck it up." I said playfully.

He chuckled. "Thanks Katherine."

I did a mock bow. "My pleasure." I said and walk back over to my spot. I was glad I gave Lukas my cookie, I didn't think that I would be able to eat it anyway. I did feel kinda sick.

"That was for you, Kathy! Not him!" Axel said, I shrug.

Olivia looked at our faces and tried to lighten the mood. "Lukas, if you had to, which would you rather fight? 100 chicken-sized zombies, or 10 zombie sized chickens?"

Lukas looked at the ground thoughtfully.

I giggled and turned to him, eager to know what _his_ answer to the question would be.

"Choose wisely!" Jesse said.

"Hmmm… that's a good one…" Lukas said.

"How can you guys joke at a time like this? Petra is still out there!" Axel scolded.

I looked at the ground guiltily.

"Petra would want us to keep our spirits up!" Jesse argued.

"If I were her then… oh I don't know… it just doesn't feel right…" Axel said sadly.

We were silent. I felt tears sting my eyes as I thought about poor Petra. Lukas broke the silence.

"Okay. Well, we should rest up. We have a big day ahead of us tomorrow. Now, my guess is, if we start at the portal, and kinda split up-"

Axel interrupted him. "Whoa, what are you doing? Who promoted _you_ to team captain?"

Lukas put his hands on his hips. "Did I do something to you?" He asked.

Axel glared at him.

"Axel back off." Olivia said, trying to make sure nothing bad happened.

Axel ignored her. "You're the only one wearing that stupid jacket! Don't tell us what to do!" He pointed at Lukas's Ocelot jacket.

"Take. That. Back." Lukas demanded.

"Can't, wouldn't." Axel said.

"You know what? I get to wear this jacket because I know how to build… but that doesn't mean I don't know how to break things!" Lukas threatened.

Katherine balled her fists. All the stress was starting to get to her head.

It was getting to everyone's head.

"Ha! Your threats don't scare me! Now that we know how you really are!"

Lukas turned to Jesse. "Jesse! Your friend is way out of line!" he said.

"That's it! I'm done! You guys need to stop fighting _right now_ or I will… argh!" I couldn't control my anger anymore and stormed out the door and into the pouring rain. "I wish I had been eaten by that stupid zombie!" I muttered as I slammed the door.

"Zombie?" I could've sworn that was Lukas's voice, but I didn't care.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Katherine's POV

I stomped a little way from the hut and punched a tree. When I had had my fill of anger-driven foliage abuse, I wandered around for a quiet spot to calm down.

I picked a few apples from the trees in the forest a couple dozen meters from the hut, then saw a small lake and sat down beside it. I looked at my reflection in the water and noticed a soft glow coming from under my hoodie. I pulled out my necklace and found that it was the source of the strange glow. I stared at it for a few seconds, and after about only five the light faded, and my necklace looked as it always had. _What could this mean?_ I thought. So many questions were flashing through my head, it was hard to keep track of all of them.

I took a deep, relaxing breath and looked around to make sure no one was watching me. I couldn't see the hut or any people, so I stripped to my undergarments and waded into the lake. I turned onto my back and floated there for a while, closing my eyes and sorting through my thoughts.

 _Why did those mobs have purple eyes?_ My best guess was it was because their evil master was speaking through them, that's what it always meant in books, anyway. _What did they say his name was?_ I tried to remember… it was something scary like Doom or something… Death! _That_ was it!

 _So how does this Death person connect to my necklace?_ Well, it seemed to light up whenever I was in danger. _But then why hasn't it lit up till now? I've been in danger plenty of times before._ This puzzled me for a moment. Then it hit me. _The flash of light! It came from my necklace!_ That's _when I started hearing the voices!_

So, this Death guy tried to use the mobs to bring me to him, which activated my necklace, and enabled me to hear them! _And apparently gave me magical powers._ Now I just had one more question:

 _Who gave me the necklace?_

My thoughts were interrupted when I heard someone calling my name, so I got out of the water. As I was pulling myself over the edge of the lake I saw Lukas in the distance. _Crap_ , I thought, looking down at myself. I snatched my clothes and ran behind a tree. I managed to put on my pants and was about to put on my shirt when-

"Katherine!" Lukas called. His voice was much closer, and it startled me so much that I took a step back and tripped over a rock, falling back into the lake with a loud splash.

I resurfaced, gasping and coughing.

"Katherine?" Lukas saw me and ran over just as I was pulling my shirt over my head. "You...?" he blushed and turned around, embarrassed. "Okay….?"

"I _was_." I said angrily, sliding my arms through my sleeves.

He changed the subject. "The others were worried about you…"

"Were they? They should be! An injured girl just decides to wander around without protection in the middle of the night! They're just lucky I'm not dead!" I say, walking in front of him.

He looked me in the eyes, his embarrassment replaced by concern. "Are you _sure_ you're okay?" he asked me.

"I don't know…" I said.

There was an awkward silence that lasted about thirty seconds before Lukas decided to break it. "Do you…. wanna play a game?" He asked.

"A game? Really? _Now_?"

"Well, we can't do much else right now, can we?"

I sighed. "Good point. What did you have in mind?"

He looked up at the sky thoughtfully. "How about hide-and-go-seek?" He said.

I grinned. "Okay but prepare to lose!"

"You know, I was the best hide-and-go-seeker in the Ocelots! Not even Aiden could beat me!" he said.

"We'll see about that!"

"Okay, you hide, and I count?" he asked.

"Fine with me!" I said. I waited until he started counting, then looked for a hiding spot. I saw a good tree and climbed up it. It was hard, but I managed.

"Ready or not- here I come!" I heard Lukas shout after a while.

I walked across my branch and tore off a small stick. When Lukas walked up to my tree I threw it as far as it would go.

"Katherine? Y'know, you should really be quieter if you don't want to lose!" he said, running in the direction I threw the stick.

"Mwah ha, ha!" I laughed mischievously and jumped from my branch. I landed with a yelp, I had landed on my bad leg. I got up quickly and ran toward another tree. I looked behind me to see if Lukas was following me, but he wasn't there. Yet. I found another tree and climbed it. And, soon enough, Lukas appeared beneath it.

"Katherine…? I will find you! It's only a matter of-Oof!"

I had leaned out onto my branch to watch, but the branch had snapped, causing me to fall on top him instead. "Ow…" We moaned.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Well, I fell out of a tree… so… just peachy." I joke. "How about you?"

"Well, someone just fell on top of me, so… just peachy."

I laughed and got off him. "Good to know." I helped him up. "What's next?"

"Something that involves me _not_ getting flattened, preferably.

"We could go back to the lake?"

"Sure." We walked back to the lake. It didn't take that long, we weren't that far from it. "What now?" he asked when we got there.

"You wanna go for a swim?" I ask, taking off my shoes.

"Huh?" He asked, and I just jumped in, clothes and all. It was still raining, and my clothes were soaked from falling into the lake earlier, anyway. "C'mon! It's not too cold!" I told him, who still seemed a little reluctant. I did some underwater backflips and other underwater tricks.

"I think I'll just stay up here, thanks. Where it's dry. And warm."

"Oh, no!" I said, pretending to drown. "I'm drowning! Help! This is it… I see the light… heading towards it… getting closer…"

"Really?"

"So… warm… bleh…" I drifted towards him on my back, pretending to be dead.

"You are such a child…"

"Yep." I suddenly lunged forwards and grabbed Lukas's wrist, yanking him into the water with a loud _SPASH_. "And you're no fun."

When he resurfaced, he seemed annoyed. "Why'd you do that?!"

"Who? Me?" I said, giggling.

"Ha, ha." He said sarcastically. "My turn!" he tackled me under the water.

"Okay… now we're even! We're even!" I laughed.

"How's _that_ for 'no fun'?" Lukas pointed out.

"Pretty good, pretty good." I said. "What do you want to do now?" I climbed out of the water and sat by the edge, my toes in the water.

Lukas sat beside me. "I dunno… we could watch the sunrise." So that's what we did.

"Katherine?" Lukas asked after a while.

"Yeah?" I replied, looking at him.

"Why are you so nice to me? We- the Ocelots- were so mean to you and your friends… Your friends don't like me- Heck, Axel _hates_ me- but you… you're actually _nice_ to me. Why? I don't deserve it…"

Katherine thought for a moment. "Well… I believe anyone can change, if you give them a chance." I tell him.

He perked up. "Thanks, Katherine."

"Besides… _you_ were never actually mean to me. That was all Aiden and the other Ocelots." I said. "And call me Kathy. It's what all my friends call me."

"Thanks Kathy. That means a lot to me."

"You're welcome."

Lukas looked at his feet dangling in the water. It seemed like there was something on his mind. "Kathy?" He asked after a while.

I look back into his eyes. "Yeah?"

"You-I... I mean..." He didn't get to finish because just then we heard my friends calling out for me. I hadn't even realized it was morning.

"Hold that thought." I told him, rising to my feet.

We walked up to them and Olivia ran up to me to give me a tight hug. "Kathy! We were so worried about you!"

"I'm fine. Oof! Olivia! You're… choking… me!"

Axel glared at Lukas. "This tool is still here?"

Lukas glared back but chose not to say anything.

We walked up to them and I noticed that Lukas looked a little disappointed. "You okay?" I asked him as the team started to walk down a mossy cobblestone path.

Lukas looked down at the ground and started blushing. "I'm fine. Um... How about you?"

I started blushing. "I'm okay..." I looked away awkwardly. I notice Jesse looking at us suspiciously and look around, wanting to find something to distract him with.

Luckily, Lukas had climbed up a dirt mound and pointed into the distance. "I think I found it!" He said excitedly.

I sighed with relief as Jesse started climbing the mound. When we all got to the top we stared in awe at the temple. "Is this it?" I asked them as we jumped down onto the stone clearing in front of the entrance.

Jesse held up his amulet. "This is it." He confirmed.

We all walked through the entryway, taking everything in. We heard the hiss of a dispenser and Jesse told everyone to get behind him. Reuben got scared and ran ahead, triggering a pressure plate. We all ran after him, triggering the other one, causing a gate to shut behind us. The dispensers hissed louder than before and our eyes widened. "RUN!" Jesse yelled.

We all ended up making it unscathed. "Is everyone alright?" Jesse asked us and we all nodded.

" _Now_ how are we going to get across?" Olivia exclaimed. The path in front of us also had arrows shooting across.

"Everyone, empty your pockets! Let's see what we have to work with!" Jesse said. We all emptied our belongings and ended up with sticks, flint, strings and feathers. Jesse crafted a bow and arrow and shot the pressure plate, turning it off. The arrows stopped, and we whooped for joy, continuing along the path until we came to a library. It looked a lot like Ivor's creepy basement.

"Doesn't this look a lot like Ivor's creepy basement?" Axel asked, voicing my thoughts.

"No kidding..." I mumbled in agreement. I started looking at all the books. I loved reading, and, were we not on a mission, I would've started reading all the books in the room.

 _Well, maybe just one._ I thought. I grabbed a random book of the shelf and peered at the title. It was called _How to Tame an Ocelot._ I giggled and glanced at Lukas. I put the book back on the shelf and looked around for more clues as to where the Order could be. I saw Jesse looking at a book on a pedestal and walked over to him.

He read it out loud: " _The battle was fierce, but the Order of the Stone emerged triumphant, saving the land and ensuring that peace and prosperity would reign forever."_

Lukas walked up to him. "Well not exactly 'forever'." He commented.

Jesse continued reading: _"These five heroes, five friends, would author their own end, they would slay a dragon."_ By now everyone had come to listen.

"Ivor was a member of the Order of the Stone?" Olivia exclaimed, surprised.

"They lied to us. To the whole world!" Jesse said in anger and astonishment.

"I can't believe you punched a member of the Order of the Stone!" Axel told Jesse.

"This is insane," Lukas said. I just nodded my agreement.

Olivia walked up to some stairs. "Where do you think these go?" She asked.

"Only one way to find out," Jesse replied, walking up the stairs.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Jesse's POV

 **(Yeah, I'm gonna start doing other people's POV's from now on from time to time. BTW A/N means author's note, POV means point of view, just thought I'd clarify that. Anyway, back to the story!)**

As I climbed up the stairs, I found myself in a broken-down room.

 **(lol I didn't know how else to describe it!)**

"Woah!" I say, looking around.

"What happened to the walls?" Axel said.

"More like, 'what happened to this whole place'?'" Lukas argued.

"Where's the Order?" Katherine wondered aloud, looking around.

"Gabriel said once we get to the temple, the amulet would lead us to the order." Jesse explained.

"So, what are you waiting for? Pull it out then!" Axel said. They all gathered around me as I took the amulet out of my pocket and held it up in the air. We stood there like idiots for about ten seconds without anything happening.

"Well, that was a let-down." Axel said disappointedly.

"Was I the only one who thought there would be a big 'WHOOSH!' And then we would all teleport to another destination to find one of the members?" Katherine said, waving her hands through the air for example.

"I thought the same thing." Lukas said, raising his hand.

~time skip cuz I'm running out of ideas~

I flipped the levers and a light shot from a Redstone lamp and onto the amulet. (which was sitting on a pedestal) "Whoa." I said, as two lights shown from the amulet and onto the giant map on the wall in front of us. One light was green and the other was red, both were on different sides of the map.

"What does it mean?" Olivia asked.

"It looks like some sort of tracking system…" I said.

"Oh! I know! Each light is one of the members!" Katherine said excitedly.

"Gabriel said Soren was missing..." I started.

"So that leaves Magnus..." Lukas said.

"Or Ellegaard." Katherine finished.

"Well what are we waiting for? Let's go!" I said.

"I'm not coming with you." Lukas stated.

"But we need you!" I argued.

"I know... but if I know Petra, she's probably doing everything she can to find this place." Lukas reasoned.

"Well... Looks like Olivia will totally have you covered while Jesse and I are out finding Magnus!" Axel told Lukas, secretly relieved he wasn't going.

"'Finding Magnus'. You _really_ think that's how it's gonna go?" Olivia argued. "We need Ellegaard! She'll know what to do!"

"Axel, get ready to roll." I said. "We're going to get Magnus. C'mon Kathy!"

"Actually... I'm gonna stay here." Katherine said. Something inside was telling her to stay.

"Oh... Okay! Have fun!" I said, walking away with Axel.

~another time skip~

Katherine's POV

"Bye! Have fun! Try not to get eaten!" I said, waving at Axel and Jesse as they left. Lukas and Olivia were standing beside me, also waving.

When they were out of sight I turned to the two of them. "Okay, so here's my plan- one of us works on rebuilding this place for nightfall, one of us stands guard, and the other gets to go find food." I said. "Any questions?"

Olivia raised her hand.

"Yes?" I asked.

"Could I stand guard?" She asked.

"Sure." I said.

Lukas shrugged. "I'll help rebuild."

"Great, then I'll go find food!" I said. We all separated to do our assignments. I walked through the forest and soon spotted a tree with apples. I climbed it and started picking some of the sweet, red fruit.

A light shined in my face through the leaves. "Ow, what was that?" I wondered aloud. I poked my head through the leaves and found myself facing the sunset. I looked out at the sky, streaked with pink and gold, and sighed. It was beautiful.

"Hello?" I heard a male voice ask, and I jumped in fright, falling off the branch and landing on my face on the ground.

"Ow…" I moaned. I looked up and-

A white Enderman stood before me, its face only inches from mine. "Hello, Child of Grey."

I screamed and backed against the tree, taking the flimsy stick out of my pocket and holding it up protectively. "WHAT THE (banana) HELL?!"

"Please, there is no need for that kind of language." The Enderman informed me calmly. It sounded male. "I am a friend, not a foe, so please lower the dead tree limb."

I cautiously lowered the stick. The Enderman didn't look hostile. In fact, he didn't even _look_ like an Enderman at all. He was as white as snow and had teal blue eyes. Basically, the _opposite_ of your typical Enderman.

He stuck out his hand in greeting. "My name is Cloud that Covers Sky, it is a pleasure to meet you."

"K-Katherine... " I told him, shaking hands with him. _This is so weird…_

"Why, your name isn't Katherine, child!"

I looked at him, confused. "It's… not?"

"Of course not, Child of Grey, but I will let Life of Living Remembered give you an explanation. She can also help you find your parents."

(flashback)

 _I woke up in a cave. With no recollection of where I was or how I had gotten there. I didn't even remember my own name. All I knew was that I was about seven. I started crying. Who was I? I couldn't remember. I walked out of the cave to find myself in a forest. I started wandering around, looking for any sign of human beings._

 _I saw something whoosh past me and I turned in that direction. "W-who's there?" I ask, my voice barely a whisper. Suddenly something crashed into me and we tumbled over. I found myself on top of a boy about my age. He had brown hair, and he wore a white shirt with red-strapped suspenders._

" _Hi!"_

 _I jumped off him in fright. "Please don't kill me!" I asked, backing away._

 _The boy chuckled. "Why would I do that?" He then sticks out his hand. "I'm Jesse, what's your name?" He smiled._

 _I stared down at the ground. "I-I don't know..." Tears leaked down my face._

 _He looked at me in concern. "Are you okay? I can take you to the village if you want." He said._

 _I just nodded, and he took my hand and led me through the forest. "Do you know where your parents live?" Jesse asked me._

 _"I... don't remember them!" I said, bursting into tears._

 _He hugged me. "It's okay, you can live with us!" He then thought of something. "What do you want your new name to be?" He asked excitedly._

 _I thought about it for a second. "Hmmm... I don't know."_

 _Jesse looked up at the sky thoughtfully. "How about Skye?" He asked. I shook my head. "April? Emma? Katherine?"_

 _I perked up. "I like Katherine!" I said happily._

 _"Alright, Katherine it is then!" He said, and we walked back to town. "You're going to love my friends! Their names are Axel and Olivia. We live in a tree house together! I just found a pi the other day! We're taking care of him, his name's Reuben!"_

 _Jesse went on, and I smiled. I had a friend. Possibly four of them._

 _I wasn't alone._

(flashback over)

"My... My _parents_?!" I asked him, astonished. He nodded. I looked at him eagerly. "Who are my parents?!" If I was sitting on a chair, I would be falling off it right now.

Cloud that Covers Sky looked uncomfortable. "I... I probably shouldn't tell you..." He said.

"Why not?" I asked sadly. I had been wanting to know who my parents were for ten years! I had to know! "I _have_ to know, Cloud! They're my _parents_!" I told him.

"Alright." Cloud sighed. "But I will only tell you your father's name."

"Tell me tell me _tell me_!" I said impatiently.

"Child of Grey, your father's name is Soren."

Right then and there my head exploded. Not literally, of course, but still. Big explosion. I sat down. _Soren? As in THE Soren?! The leader of the Order of the Stone Soren?!_ My head was spinning. Why had no one mentioned me in a history book somewhere? It was like I had just been erased from existence. I suddenly felt very sad and angry. "Didn't he love me?" I asked in a small voice.

Cloud put his hand on my shoulder. "He loved you too much for words. It broke his heart when he lost you."

I looked up at him sadly. "He lost me? Then why didn't he try to come and find me?" I asked him.

"Believe me, he did. But it took ten years for just us to find you." Cloud told me.

"Wait- there's _more_ of you?!"

"Yes, many more."

We sat in silence for a while.

"You should probably get back to your friends." Cloud said after a while.

"Okay." I said.

"Remember, Child of Grey, if you need me, all you have to do is shout." He told me.

I started back to the temple, but after a few steps, I turned back. "Hey why did you call me…?" I looked around, but Cloud was nowhere to be found. "…Child of Grey…?"


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Katherine's POV

When I got back to the temple Olivia let me through. She showed me to the food storage area that Lukas had built, and I dumped all the food I had collected into one of the chests. After that I went straight to the sleeping area, too many thoughts in my head for me to be hungry.

Lukas caught me on the way there. "Hey, Kathy how was your trip?" He asked.

"Confusing... Very confusing..." I informed him distantly. Lukas looked at me in concern. "What's wrong? Are you feeling okay?" He asked.

"You sure ask that question a lot."

"I grew up with the other Ocelots, and they were _always_ getting in trouble or falling out of trees, so I've just had to say it a lot."

"Huh." I _was_ feeling a little nauseated... But other than that, I was probably fine. "I... I'm just gonna go lie down..." I said, looking down at the ground and walking past him. I needed time to process what just happened.

I went straight to my bed (well, it was mine _now_ ) and plopped down on the mattress, my face in my pillow. "What the hell just happened?" I asked myself softly. I heard the door open as someone entered the room.

"Kathy, what's wrong?" Lukas asked, leaning against the doorframe.

I sat up. "Nothin'. I'm fine." I lied.

Lukas raised one eyebrow. "You _know_ you're not good at lying, right?" He informed me.

I sighed. "I know..."

"Whatever it is, you can tell me." He said, making me feel guilty.

"Maybe later... When it's the right time. Okay?" I told him.

He came over and gave me a hug, which surprised me. "I'm sure whatever it is, you'll figure it out."

"Thanks, Lukas. I needed that."

We heard a big explosion and jumped, nearly falling off the bed in the process. "What the hell was that?!" I asked, then paled. "Olivia!"

"Let's go find out." He said. We walked carefully over to the sound of the explosion. The first thing we noticed was Olivia standing beside a gigantic hole in the wall.

"I did _not_ do that!" She said.

"Olivia! Phew… you're okay…" I breathed a sigh of relief.

"What did this?" Lukas asked her.

"Well, a bunch of creepers came up to the wall and then BOOM! The wall was gone." She said, using hand gestures.

I sighed. "I'll go get supplies..." I grabbed a pickaxe from a nearby chest and walked through the hole in the wall.

~time skip~

By the time I came back, it was morning again. Luckily, I was able to collect supplies without any trouble.

I was just finishing patching up the wall when Lukas appeared behind me. "There you are, Kathy! I was just about to come find you!"

"I can *yawn* take care of myself you know." I told him.

Olivia ran up to us. "Hey guys! I just got an idea!" She said.

"What is it?" I asked, rubbing my eyes tiredly.

"Well, I was thinking, we need _both_ members of the Order... So, I was thinking that I could go after Ellegaard myself!"

I thought for a few seconds. "That's actually a really good idea Olivia." I told her.

She beamed at me. "I'll start packing right now!" She bolted off to the storage room. Lukas and I waited for her. It only took about ten seconds for Olivia to pack everything she needed to. "Goodbye Kathy! Lukas!"

"Bye Olivia." I said, hugging her goodbye.

We stood outside in the morning air and waved to her until her silhouette disappeared into the sunrise. I turned to Lukas. "Okay, so now we have the whole temple to ourselves. What do you want to do?"

He shrugged. "We could play more hide-and-seek. There are some really good hiding spots in the temple."

"Is this like, our thing now?" I asked.

He smiled. "Yes. Yes, it is."

"I'll count this time, you hide."

"See you when you lose!" He said, running off.

I turned around and counted to one-hundred. "Ready or not! Here I come!" I crept through the temple. "I'm gonna find you~" I sing-songed. I spotted a chest in the corner and lifted the lid. No Lukas.

I wandered around some more, I checked every place I could think of... But still no Lukas.

 _Wow._ I thought. _Lukas wasn't wrong. He_ is _good at this._

I came across a room I hadn't noticed until just now. I walked inside. It was empty, except for a door on the wall opposite of the entrance. It was like no other door she had ever seen. It was white with silver and gold vines weaving along the wall beside it, twining towards the top, where a blue stone was embedded. I walked up to the door cautiously. It had a mysterious aura to it. "L-Lukas? You in there?" I asked cautiously. I reached out for the golden doorknob. I pulled the door open and found myself in another dimension. "What the hell?!" I shouted, turning around to leave.

The door was gone.

"No, no, no, no..." I muttered worriedly. I was in the sky, if you were standing on a cloud. When I looked closer I realized that I _was_ standing on one, one that stretched on forever. About every ten yards there was a gazebo, the roofs were made of clouds, and they were supported by white pillars with gold vines climbing up them. Above me was a clear blue sky. "W-where am I?" I asked no one in particular.

Suddenly, a dragon flew up to me. It was like the Enderdragon, but it had glittering, white scales and shimmering golden talons and spikes on its back. Its wings were tinged with the same gold color, and its eyes were a beautiful sapphire blue. "You are in the Beginning, Child of Grey." It said, and when it saw my face, followed with, "and I am a Beginnerdragon, to answer your next question." It landed in front of me. It sounded female.

"What's the Beginning?" I asked.

A white Enderman with the same blue eyes appeared beside me, making me jump. "The Beginning is much like the End... Except more peaceful and heavenly. I am a Beginnerman." He replied cheerily.

I looked at him closely. "You look like that other Ender- sorry- _Beginner_ man I met the other day, I think his name was Cloud."

"Yes, he is my brother." The Beginnerman smiled.

"Oh. I guess you two are like one of those 'one happy, one grumpy' set, are you?"

"What?"

"Never mind. Why am I here?" I asked them.

"We are here to tell you who you really are." The Beginnerdragon said.

"You are?" I asked curiously. "Oh, that's right! Cloud said something about 'someone else telling me all the stuff I'm supposed to know', or something.

"First, we shall tell you our names." The Beginnerman said.

"My name is Life of Living Remembered, but you may call me Life." The Beginnerdragon said.

"My name is Ray of Shining Sun, but you can call me Ray." The Beginnerman said.

"My name is... Um... Katherine." I told them.

Life looked at me kindly. "Why, Child of Grey, your name isn't Katherine. It's Delilah." She told me.

"Wait, what?" I asked.

"Katherine is not your real, name, Child of Grey."

"Well, duh. Obviously. I got that name from one of my best friends. And I heard you the first time. Also, why do you all keep calling me 'Child of Grey'?"

"Why, because of the prophecy, of course!" Ray said.

"What prophecy?" I asked, looking to Life.

The one I am about to tell you, Child of Grey." She said. Life closed her eyes, and when she opened them, they glowed a bright white. Her voice echoed as she told me the prophecy:

 _"A Child of Grey, with the power to choose,_

 _Whatever is picked, someone will lose,_

 _With power to create, and power to destroy,_

 _The one with nature's favorite toy,_

 _Will travel with others, and start their quest,_

 _All pressed for time, no one shall rest,_

 _One shall find red, while the other finds green,_

 _Then all will find grey, who hasn't been seen,_

 _Will kill a foe, and make it stronger,_

 _When a dear friend can hold on not much longer,_

 _One will die, the other grieve,_

 _Wishing they had done differently,_

 _Blue will be found, with no recollection,_

 _Foe will strike, seeking destruction,_

 _They will try again, and heroes will be made,_

 _As they rise from the ashes of lies and myths played."_

 **(Hell yes... That just happened! *puts on sunglasses* and yes, I made up this** _ **entire thing**_ **! Copyright and trademark!)**

My mouth was wide open when Life finished. "Why are you telling me this? What does it mean?"

"You will know in due time, Child of Grey, but now I shall give you a gift." She walked up to me.

"What gift?" I asked curiously.

Life lifted her claw and pushed my hair out from in front of my left eye. She put one claw on my forehead, and the other on my heart. There was a bright flash, and as it subsided, she pulled away. I didn't feel any different, but when I looked down, I saw a soft glow coming from my heart, but other than that, I didn't feel any different.

"What happened?" I asked her.

"See for yourself." She told me, turning sideways so I could look at my reflection in her reflexive scales. I was surprised by what I saw.

Both my eyes had been silver... But now the left one was the same sapphire blue as Life's eyes. "What does it mean?" I asked them.

"It means that we can now communicate with you in your dreams. And we can visit you in the living world."

"It also lets you do something that we are going to let you figure out." Ray explained.

"Now go, Delilah, you have a destiny to fulfill." Life told me. They started to fade, and I found myself where I had been standing before I was transported to the Beginning, my hand on the door's silver, gold, and blue handle. The door was closed, and when I let go, it disappeared completely.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Katherine's POV

 **(FYI Kathy's leg is better now. When you live in Minecraft, injuries don't tend to last as long!)**

I continued my search for Lukas, hoping I hadn't taken to long in the Beginning. I finally found him in a crevice behind a painting. "I'm sorry it took so long to find you." I told him.

"Are you kidding? That was the fastest time it has taken anyone to find me, you only took, like, five minutes!" He exclaimed. "I guess I've finally met my match," he added, punching me on the shoulder.

 _Huh, I guess no time passed while I was in the Beginning._

We decided to wander the temple and see what we could find. There were a lot of interesting things, such as elaborate traps, potions, a room dedicated to explosives, weapons, and much more.

After a while, Lukas surprised me with an unexpected question. "Have you ever loved someone but didn't know how to tell them?" He asked.

It caught me off guard and I thought about it for a second. "Actually... Yes. Yes, I have..." I said. I started blushing. "But I think that if you do... Then you should tell them. If you hold off for too long... Then they could be lost before you are ever able to work up enough courage to tell them how you feel." I told him.

He looked ahead thoughtfully. "I guess you're right..."

I saw a chest and ran up to it, thankful for a distraction. "OOOH! What's in _here?_ " I said excitedly. I opened the chest and peered inside. It was filled with beautifully designed weapons of different types. "Lukas look at this! You think the Order would mind if we took a weapon or two? It's not like they need this many..." I noticed that there were more chests with similar contents.

"I guess not... Woah! Look at this!" He said, holding up a black bow with engravings of the End on the side. He then pulled out a matching quiver with arrows that were the same black as the bow, but with silver tips and dark purple feathers.

"Woah! My turn!" I say, digging through the chests until I found a bow that was white with blue and gold engravings of the Beginning. I smiled. I found a matching quiver with about 64 arrows that were the same white color of the bow and quiver with golden tips and blue feathers. "There! Now we almost match!" I said cheerfully.

Lukas beamed. "We might need a sword for close combat though." He said, and we searched the chests for any swords of preference.

I found one made of iron. It had a white handle with a blue gem in it, it was very similar to the bow, but with Beginnermen engravings decorating the blade. There were words engraved on the bottom of the blade close to the handle.

 _A heart will break, then mend again, as a hero finds their light within._

I dropped the sword in surprise.

Lukas looked up from his sword-hunting. "What is it?" He asked curiously.

"It was just... A... Uh... Spider." I lied.

"Okay..." He said unsurely. I picked the sword back up as Lukas backed away from the chest, with a sword in his hand that also matched his bow. He held the two together and looked at them closely. "It was if they were built as a set." He observed. I nodded my agreement. We walked away to explore some more. I pocketed my bow, quiver, arrows and sword, and Lukas did likewise. As we walked up to the main entrance, I saw a humanoid shape walking towards us from the distance. I tugged on Lukas's jacket and pointed into the distance, where the figure was still limping towards the temple.

"Finally! *pant pant* I found the temple! *cough*" said a familiar voice. "Jesse? Guys?! Are you in there?" She asked.

We ran up to the figure, and when we got there, we saw who it was.

"Petra?! Is that you?!" I asked in astonishment. I ran towards her and gave her a hug.

"It's good to see you Kathy..." She said, giving me a friendly pat on the back.

When I backed away I noticed that Petra was favoring her left arm. "Is your arm okay?" I asked her in concern.

Petra's eyed widened in alarm. "I'm fine. I just... uh... tweaked it a little, that's all." She said, avoiding my gaze.

Lukas caught up to us, completely out of breath. "Man... I had... forgotten... how fast... you could run... without an injured leg..." Lukas said in-between pants. I looked down at my leg. Huh. It _was_ better... I hadn't even noticed! He then noticed Petra standing there. "Petra?! Is that you?!" He asked in astonishment.

"No. I'm a creeper about to blow you to bits." She deadpanned. " _Of course,_ it's me!" I snickered, and Lukas glared at me. "Come inside. You must be tired." Lukas said, turning to Petra and leading her inside the temple.

Petra chuckled. "Like you wouldn't believe..." She muttered. I stared down at my now uninjured leg. _How did I not notice?! I mean, come on! It was excruciatingly painful!_ Now I couldn't even feel any pain. I looked up and saw that Lukas and Petra were way ahead of me. "Wait up guys!" I cried, running to catch up to them.

After Petra was- forcibly- put to sleep to recuperate, Lukas and I continued to make renovations to the temple. We agreed that he would continue to build the temple, and I would go obtain food and supplies. While I was out and about in the forest on my food run, I ran into a couple of mobs, but they weren't that much trouble now that I had my new weapons. I held my sword up to look at it again. I _really_ liked this sword. It was amazing, I had never held a sword with such perfect balance, range, durability, and sharpness. I had already killed about fifty mobs with it, and it _still_ looked brand new. The inscription on the side caught my eye:

 _A heart will break, then mend again, as a hero finds their light within._

I didn't know what it meant, but I had to admit, it sounded _really cool_. It kinda reminded me of the prophecy Life had shared with me. I struggled to recall it, but the moment I tried to remember, my necklace glowed, and Life's voice surrounded me:

 _"A Child of Grey, with the power to choose,_

 _Whatever is picked, someone will lose,_

 _With the power to create, and power to destroy,_

 _The one with nature's favorite toy,_

 _Will travel with others, and start their quest,_

 _All pressed for time, no one shall rest,_

 _One shall find red, while the other finds green,_

 _Then all will find grey, who hasn't been seen,_

 _Will kill a foe, and make it stronger,_

 _When a dear friend can hold on not much longer,_

 _One will die, the other grieve,_

 _Wishing they had done differently,_

 _Blue will be found, with no recollection,_

 _Foe will strike, seeking destruction,_

 _They will try again, and heroes will be made,_

 _As they rise from the ashes of lies and myths played."_

So, wait, could I just recall the prophecy whenever I wanted?

 _Well, that's useful._ I thought. A thought occurred to me and I smiled.

What _else_ was I capable of?

I turned to a tree next to me. _I've done this before, so it shouldn't be too hard._ I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I summoned everything I had, and opened my eyes, focusing on the tree. I lifted my hand and a powerful blast of white light burst forth, blowing the poor birch tree to smithereens and knocking me backwards. I looked up at the damage I had caused. There was a giant hole in the birch trunk that was still smoking. Wood chips rained around me.

 _I just did that._ I thought in disbelief. I wasn't sure whether to feel proud- or downright terrified. Another part of the prophecy entered my mind- _with the power to create._ I picked myself up off the floor, swaying unsteadily. Once I balanced myself, I turned back to the smoldering tree. I repeated the steps I used to destroy, this time using my power to mend. I watched as white, sparkling tendrils shot out of my hand and wove around and through the tree. I watched in amazement as the tree healed, and a vine with blue flowers wrapped around it. It looked as good as new. I smiled triumphantly, but my euphoria only lasted for a few seconds, and then I fell to the ground and sunk into darkness.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Katherine's POV

"Delilah? Delilah? Wake up!" I heard a familiar voice call.

I opened my eyes and found myself in the Beginning. Life was looking down at me, motherly concern plastered on her face. "What happened? Oh no, am I dead?!" I asked, panicking.

Life sighed in relief. "No. You're not dead _yet._ " She said.

I stood up. "What do you mean?"

Life sighed again. "When you were testing your powers in the forest some time ago, you used up too much of your aura. Of course, destroying an object is easy, but creating one- especially something living- takes much more skill than you currently have."

"It does? I guess that makes sense. Wait, did you just say, 'some time ago'?!"

"Of course."

"How long 'some time ago'?"

"Around three hours' time."

"What?! Three hours? I have to get back!"

"Relax, Child of Grey. Everything shall turn out satisfactory. You see, no time passes when you are here in the Beginning."

"Oh." _That's why Lukas said it only took me five minutes to find him, no time had passed!_ "Why am I here?" I asked her.

"To train." Life answered, as if it was obvious. When I looked confused, she clarified, "When you are in your celestial body in the Beginning, you will feel no exhaustion."

"Oh." I said in understanding. "Why am I training now?" I asked her.

"We don't want the same thing that happened earlier to happen again, now do we?" She started walking away and motioned for me to follow her. We soon came to a clearing where Ray, Cloud, and a few other Beginnermen were standing around, chatting. They paused when they saw me.

A Beginnerman walked up to me. "Is this her? She is _sooo_ adorable!" She told Life, smiling wide. The female Beginnerman turned to me. "Are you ready to train, Delilah? My name is Star of Midnight Sky, but you can just call me Star. How are you today?" Star sounded very motherly. I liked her already.

I smiled. "I'm good, how about you?" I asked her.

Star beamed at me. "Why I'm perfect now that you're here! Are you ready to be amazed?" She asked, taking my hand and leading me to the center of the clearing. Life stayed back to watch.

"Um, I don't mean to sound rude... but amazing me won't take too long, will it? In the conscious world I was just knocked out for three hours, and I don't want to worry my friends." I told her.

We got to the center of the clearing and Star turned to me. "Believe me. If you follow your heart, this shouldn't take long at all." She reassured me kindly. I nodded. "Hey Dawn of Rising Sun! Bring the 'thing'." Star called.

Another Beginnerman, also female, walked towards us and set an apple on the ground before coming up to me and shaking my hand. "My name is Dawn of Rising Sun. Call me Dawn." She told me in a rough voice.

"My name's Katherine- I mean... That's my adopted name." I tell them. "What's the apple for?" I add.

"For training!" Star said excitedly.

"So... Uh... What do I have to do?" I ask them.

"You're going to lift it." Dawn said.

 _Is this some sort of weight-lifting test?_ I shrugged and walked over to it.

Star giggled, picked me up easily, and put me back where I was standing before. "Not with your hands silly! With your _mind_!" She informed me.

"With my mind?! I can do that?!" I asked, astonished that I had those abilities without knowing all this time.

"Of course, you can! All you have to do is try!" Star said encouragingly.

Dawn led me in front of the apple and stood behind me. She instructed me to close my eyes and envision the apple floating into the air. It sounded pretty easy, so I gave it a shot. I opened my eyes to see the apple give a slight jerk. This was _hard_. "Am I doing it wrong?" I asked them.

Star walked up behind me and put her hands on my shoulders. "Your mind is too full of other thoughts. You need to let them slide away, but once you become better at telekinesis, then this won't be necessary. But for now, it will be easier if you do." She informed me.

 _Telekinesis...? Not even gonna ask._ I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and let my thoughts float away. I felt more in-tune with my surroundings. I opened my eyes and raised my hand. The apple moved upwards. I moved my hand to the left and the apple floated to the left. I moved my hand to the right and the apple floated to the right. "I'm doing it, I'm doing it!" I exclaimed. _Man, this would've made the building competition a lot easier._ I thought.

"Congratulations! Step one of your training is complete! You may now go back to your friends!" Dawn said.

"Thank you so much!" I said. Life walked up to me and put a claw on my forehead. I blinked and was in the same spot I was earlier. It was morning. I giggled excitedly. I couldn't wait to test out my new skill! I sat up and groaned in pain. I had totally forgotten about the events of last night! I sucked it up and walked out of the forest and to the temple to help with anything that needed to be helped with.

The temple seemed deserted. "Uh... Guys? Anyone there?" I called, no answer. "Lukas? Petra? Anybody?" I tried. Still no answer. I made my way to the stairs that led to the map room. Climbing the stairs hurt a lot but I managed. When I got to the top I saw not only Lukas and Petra, but Olivia and Ellegaard as well. "There you guys are! For a minute I thought you had ditched me!" I told them.

"Kathy?! Are you okay? You were gone forever!" Olivia said, walking up to me.

"I wasn't gone _that_ long." I told them.

"So, this is your other friend..." Ellegaard said looking at me as if she knew me. I looked at her, she _did_ look familiar... It was probably because I had seen a picture of her the other day.

"So, what is it like in Redstonia?" Lukas asked, oblivious to Ellegaard and I staring each other down and knocking us out of our stupor.

Ellegaard quickly turned to him. "It's a place where Redstone contraptions are invented by the dozen. You should really come there. It's much better than _Boomtown._ " She added, shivering.

"What's Boomtown?" I asked.

"A place that you don't need to know about or ever see." Ellegaard replied. I shrugged, which also hurt. Wow. Mental note: don't use too much power. Yowch. I left Olivia, Petra, and Lukas talking to Ellegaard and wandered over to the giant map on the wall. I traced the map with my finger, trying to find home. Was that our treehouse…?

"How are you?" I heard Lukas ask and jumped. That also hurt.

"Ow. I'm fine." I told him.

He looked unconvinced. "You don't act like you're fine." He informed me.

"Is that why you keep asking?" Well, I guess that it's hard not to move without hurting myself now. Jeez, people are right when they say power comes with a price. Remember that. "I'm alright, seriously, stop asking. It's kind of you, and all, but you are asking, like, _all the time_. Plus, I've got amazing and kind friends to help me in sticky situations." I told him. I hope I didn't hurt his feelings. He _did_ look a little sadder…

"Still, you should be more careful. I don't want you to hurt yourself." He told me.

I glare at him. "Lukas, I swear, I've _literally_ almost died about a billion times." I told him. "I can take care of myself".

"Fine. It's just… you were gone much longer than you were supposed to be." He said solemnly. "Are you _sure_ there isn't something you're not telling me that I should know?"

My smile faded. "Look, I'm sorry, I'll try to be more careful in the future, okay?" I said.

"Alright." Lukas walked back to the others. Man. Having super-powers sucks.

~time skip~

"They're here! Jesse and Axel are here!" I heard Lukas shout excitedly. I ran towards the door to see Jesse gaping at Petra as if she were a ghost.

"Petra?! Is that really you?!" Jesse asked her.

"Uh, yeah?" She replied, and Axel gave her a bear hug. "Axel... You're crushing me..." Petra complained. Axel put her down.

"It's good to see you Petra!" Jesse said as he got a turn to hug his friend.

"I missed you too Jesse..." She said.

I then noticed that Jesse and Axel were covered in scrapes and bruises. Magnus was with them. "What happened to you guys?" I asked.

"It's a long story." Jesse replied.

"Hey tiny, you look kinda familiar..." Magnus said to me.

"Hmm? Me?" I asked him. This was confusing.

"Yeah... You kinda remind me of... Never mind. Doesn't matter." He said gruffly, shrugging off the topic.

"Okay..." I said slowly. I turned to Petra but gave him a few sidelong glances. "C'mon, let's go to the map room." As we were walking, Jesse asked Petra if there was anything left of our home.

"It was all a blur... But the Wither Storm left almost nothing behind. It even got Gabriel." She informed.

Magnus's mouth dropped open in surprise and was silent. "I can't believe the old meathead's gone." He finally said. We walked up the stairs and Magnus saw Ellegaard talking to Olivia over to the side. "What is _she_ doing here?!" He asked angrily.

"Oh, I uh, forgot to mention... Olivia went on a little… expedition… of her own while you were gone." Lukas said sheepishly.

"And this, _Olivia_ person, came back with _her_?!" He said. He looked as if he wanted to blow Ellegaard to the moon. And probably Olivia along with her.

"Look, Olivia is my friend, I didn't know that she was going to recruit Ellegaard. You've gotta believe me!" Jesse said. Magnus didn't look like he did. "How about I go over there and see what this is all about?" Jesse added. Magnus crossed his arms as Jesse walked over to where Olivia and Ellegaard were holding a conversation. Magnus joined them after a couple seconds then he and Ellegaard started fighting. I wasn't really paying attention though. My thoughts were busy with other things. _If we're trying to reunite the Order, then doesn't that mean we'll have to go get Soren?_ I thought. The thought made me nervous, which in turn made me feel nauseous. And scared. And a long list of other emotions. I was snapped back to reality when someone said something about super TNT.

"Oh, Ellie, not this again!" Magnus groaned.

"What super TNT?" Jesse asked.

"It's supposed to be the most powerful TNT in the universe. Said it could break _anything_!" Magnus informed him.

"So, what are we waiting for? Let's go get us some super TNT!" Exclaimed Jesse excitedly.

"There's only one problem, he's been missing for years. We don't know where he is. But you found us. Can you find Soren?" Ellegaard asked Jesse.

Jesse walked over to the amulet's post and set the amulet on top. He then went over to the switches and flipped one. The beam came on, making a red light and a green light pop up in the map, both were in the same spot.

"There's my light, your light..." Ellegaard said, trailing off. Suddenly a silver light flickered on.

"Is that Soren?" I asked, walking up to them. Then another light flickered on, it was a dark blue.

"Who's that?" Lukas asked.

"It's Ivor!" Jesse exclaimed.

"He's heading to Soren's! We have to move!" Petra says.

"Okay. I say we wait till morning, that way we won't run into any monsters." Ellegaard suggested.

"And risk that _thing_ catching up with us? No way. We should leave now." Magnus argued.

"I don't want to be attacked by monsters."

"You didn't see that thing! The way it just tore everything apart!"

"Was it too much for you Magnus? Your regular fierce approach didn't cut it?" Ellegaard teased him angrily.

"We should leave in the morning, Ellegaard is right, I don't want to be eaten by monsters." Jesse agreed.

"What a coincidence that it's _your_ plan. But fine." Magnus said begrudgingly.

We all got a good night's rest. When we woke up, we hurriedly packed up everything we needed and set off at a brisk pace down a gravel path at the break of dawn. Ellegaard went to chat with Jesse and I lagged behind a bit.

Lukas slowed his pace to walk beside me. It was silent for a bit. "So, are you excited to meet Soren, the greatest architect in the history of architects?" He asked me.

"Honestly, I'm more nervous. I mean... I've never actually seen him before... It's pretty scary too. But I guess that somewhere deep down I'm excited." I confessed. "Are you excited?" I added.

"I am! I've looked up to him my whole life."

"You two both have something in common as well."

"What's that?"

"You're both fantastic builders." I smiled at him and he smiled back. I heard a loud roar and turned around. It was the Wither Storm!

"This is exactly why I said we needed to leave earlier!" Magnus shouted.

The Wither Storm caused there to be enough darkness below it for monsters to spawn, and a creeper spawned next to us.

"Look out!" I shouted, tackling Lukas to the ground as the monster exploded. I helped Lukas up and got out my bow. Lukas followed suit. I started shooting at the mobs surrounding us. A zombie was getting too close for comfort, so I took out my sword to fight it.

" _Delilah, Delilah, Delilah..."_ It moaned. I stood there in shock. It knew my name! How did _it_ know my name?! I was snapped back to my senses as it tackled me to the ground.

"Get off me!" I told it.

" _Come with us... Join us..."_ It moaned. I stabbed it in the head with my sword, then did a backwards somersault and rolled the mob under me, then hopped out of the way. The zombie picked itself up and started after me again. I slashed it a few times and It disappeared in a cloud of white smoke.

I sighed in relief. I felt something wrap around my right arm and looked behind me to see it was a Wither Storm tentacle! _Crap!_ I thought, digging my feet into the ground. The tentacle wrapped tighter around my arm and I yelped in pain. "Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!" I cried as I tried to tug my arm free. It started lifting me off the ground. "No! Somebody, help!" I screamed. I felt someone grab my leg and looked down to see Jesse.

"Hang on!" He said.

"To what?!" I shouted. He finally yanked me free and we fell to the ground. "Thanks!" I told him.

"Anytime." He replied, grabbing my hand and running towards a mountain. It was Soren's hideout! "We're almost there!" Jesse shouts.

I hear Petra mutter, "Not again... Not again..." Multiple times. I wondered what it meant. The arm that the Wither Storm tentacle grabbed started hurting a lot. It was almost unbearable. I felt weaker. I coughed and kept running, despite the pain. I shook it off. _What the hell is wrong with me?!_ Suddenly, the pain was gone as fast as it came. We made it to the mountain and started climbing the stone steps to the top.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Katherine's POV

"Soren really lives down here? It's so far from... Anyone." Lukas noted.

"Maybe it's so he doesn't have any uninvited guests. His experiments may take a lot of concentration." I guessed. We walked into a room. There was no floor. Only wide columns leading to a door on the other side.

"I'm _really_ not feeling those columns." Lukas said uneasily.

"It's fine! Look!" Magnus shouted, jumping onto a nearby column.

"Wahoo!" Axel shouted, following Magnus's example. The others started going across.

 _What am I waiting for? It's not like it's haunted!_ I thought. I started jumping from column to column. _This isn't that bad!_ I thought triumphantly. Suddenly, my arm started hurting and a wave of pain spiked up my arm. I stumbled in surprise and missed the next jump by a few inches. "Ow!" I shouted as I hit the ground below. _Why does this kinda stuff always happen to me?!_ I thought angrily.

I pulled up the sleeve of my hoodie and saw a purple mark on my arm. I gasped in surprise. "What the heck?! Where did _that_ come from?!" I asked myself. I had no clue what it was, and I didn't want anyone to know. I pulled my sleeve back over the mark just as somebody jumped into the pit beside me. "Lukas?! What are you doing down here?!" I asked him.

"Well, I heard you fall and thought I'd come down here to help." He replied, brushing himself off. "Thanks. I really appreciate it. Even if it was a reckless and dangerous thing to do." I thanked him.

His eyes widened, and he hastily looked away. "Kathy? Whatever you do, DON'T look behind you."

"W-why?" I asked, frozen in place.

"Because there is an Enderman standing behind you!" He said.

" _Come with us! We can give you so much more than any of the Beginnermen can!"_

That did it. I ran for it. "Lukas run!" I shouted. I kept moving until I saw a small river. I stopped, there was nowhere to go. _Why is there a river underground?!_ I wondered angrily. I turned around to see if there were any more escape routes. I was surrounded by Endermen.

One of the Endermen teleported in front of me. " _You're fighting for the wrong side."_ It said, stretching out a hand. I backed away slowly. My foot met air instead of stone and I fell backwards into the freezing river, where I was swept downstream. " _Where are you going? Come back! You must fulfill your destiny!"_ The Endermen cried angrily.

"Lukas?!" I shouted, hoping that he hadn't been eaten by one of the Endermen. I floated quickly downstream.

"Ahhhh!" I heard Lukas scream as he jumped in the stream with me to escape the Endermen.

"There you are! I thought you were eaten!" I told him.

"Not yet!" He replied.

I heard rumbling nearby. "Uh... Do you hear that? It sounds like-"

Lukas pointed behind me. "Waterfall!" We plummeted of the edge of the waterfall and into the underground lake below. When I surfaced I saw the rest of the group on a stretch of land farther off. As I drew closer I heard voices:

"Magnus, if an artist painted the inside of your head, he'd end up with the most desert scape paintings-" Ellegaard said. As I drew closer she shouted, "That's it! I'm going! Once again it falls to me to do all the hard work. I'll just go find this super TNT myself!" Ellegaard stomped moodily down a tunnel.

Magnus glared after her. "Oh no! You do _not_ get to be the one that walks away!"

Ellegaard kept walking.

"That's it! I'm going too! See? I'm walking away too now! Super TNT, here I come!" Magnus shouted, walking down the other tunnel.

"Man. It's hard to pick 'glass half full' when they keep knocking the glass over!" Olivia said.

"They definitely have issues they need to work through." Jesse agreed, looking from Ellegaard's tunnel to Magnus's tunnel, trying to decide who to follow.

I wandered around the room, looking at the statues of the Order.

Axel saw me looking at the statues and walked up to me. "If someone made a statue of me, I wouldn't pick that pose. I'd look more like this!" He said. Putting his hands above his head in a heroic pose. Axel and I started making random poses and Olivia smiled and shook her head.

Jesse decided to go down Ellegaard's path and I followed him. Petra caught us outside the entrance. "Petra? What's wrong?" Jesse asked.

"I would like to speak to you and Kathy in private." Petra answered. So, we split up. Me Jesse, Reuben and Petra went down Ellegaard's tunnel while Olivia, Axel and Lukas went down Magnus's tunnel. "I'm sorry we had to split from the rest of the group, but this I something I wanted to discuss with you two in private." Petra said.

"Hey, whatever it is, we believe you. You can tell us." Jesse told her reassuringly.

"Thanks for being so understanding." She said. They went down a bend in the tunnel and Petra spoke. "Do you two know what wither is?" She asked.

"Of course! That's what we've been-" Jesse started.

"No. I mean just 'wither'. Or Wither Sickness to be more clear." She said, pulling up her sleeve. She had the same purple mark I did, except Petra's was bigger. "It showed up not long after you saved me. But this kind of Wither Sickness is more deadly." She told us.

I suddenly felt sick. Did that mean I had Wither Sickness too?

"Uh... Kathy? Are you alright? You look like you just saw a ghost. Even Jesse doesn't look as terrified as you." Petra pointed out.

"I don't know… Is this the same Wither Sickness that you have?" I asked worriedly, pulling up my sleeve to reveal my Wither Sickness mark.

"We have to get help!" Jesse said, looking concerned for his friends.

"No! It would just cause too much panic! We can't afford that right now." Petra argued.

"Petra's right. I don't want everybody to worry about me instead of the Wither Storm. Your first order of business is to defeat the Wither Storm. Petra and I can wait." I told Jesse.

Petra looked behind us. "Creeper!" She shouted.

I whipped around, drawing my sword, but I wasn't fast enough. The creeper blew up and Jesse and I fell down the hole it created. I accidentally landed on top of Jesse.

"Ow..." He said from underneath me.

"Oh my gosh, Jesse I am so sorry!" I said, getting up and helping Jesse up as well.

"Grab my hand! I'll help you up!" Petra said from the top of the hole. Jesse grabbed her hand, but it was her withered hand and Petra was too weak to maintain her hold. Jesse fell on top of me this time.

"Guess I deserved that..." I grunted. Jesse rolled off me.

"Jesse! I just couldn't... I'm so sorry!" Petra said guilty.

"It's okay! Just find the others!" Jesse called up to her.

Petra got up, a look of determination on her face. "Stay safe! I'll find a way down to you!" She said, running back down the tunnel with Reuben.

"Are you okay?" Jesse asked me.

"I'm fine. Just because I have a fatal sickness doesn't mean I'm gonna die! Oh... wait… I guess it does... Whatever! You get my point!" I told him and took a deep breath. "How about you?"

"Good… I just wish I was able to save Petra…" He sighed.

"You did the best you could" I put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

He chuckled wryly. "And now not only does Petra have Wither Sickness, but you have it too…"

"Hey, if I know you, then I know you will find a way to fix it."

"Thanks Katherine." Jesse went over to pick up the amulet, which had rolled away when they fell down the hole and started lighting the way. We appeared to be in some sort of secret tunnel. Jesse led the way with his amulet until we came across a large cavernous room. There were bookshelves everywhere!

"Oh my gosh..." I gasped, staring at all the books just waiting to be opened. "It's book heaven!"

"Come on! This way!" Jesse whispered, pointing to a secret door made of bookshelves. I padded after him, trying not to make any noise. We could hear someone talking in the room.

"Come on! It has to be here somewhere!" The mystery voice said.

"Soren?" Jesse asked the stranger once we entered. The man turned around, it was Ivor!

"You again? What are you doing here?" Ivor asked.

"I'm here with the Order to find Soren's super TNT! We're going to take down your Wither Storm!" Jesse said.

"The Order? Believe me, that plan will blow up in their faces in more ways than one!" Ivor said. "Now step aside please." He added, trying to walk past us.

"Wait! But I-" Jesse didn't get to finish his sentence because Ivor pushed past him.

"You're not going anywhere!" Petra said from in front of the door. She found us!

"Petra?! You're still alive?!" Ivor exclaimed in astonishment. Petra advanced toward Ivor, sword drawn. Ivor grabbed a golden sword from a nearby rack and the two fought. "Out of my way!" Ivor shouted.

"I'm not letting you go anywhere, creep!" Petra replied.

"We should let the Order decide! They'll know what to do!" Jesse said.

"No way!" Petra argued. She knocked Ivor to the ground.

"Don't tempt your fate!" He growled. He pulled a bottle from his pocket and drank it, then started running superfast. It was a Swiftness potion!

I drew my sword, luckily, I'm ambidextrous! I held my sword in my left hand, the un-withered hand.

"I'm like the wind!" Ivor shouted. He ran up to Jesse, his sword sticking out to the side as if he was going to chop of Jesse's head. Jesse ducked just in time and Ivor ran to Petra, knocking her over. She quickly got to her feet and started blocking Ivor's hasty blows with her sword.

Meanwhile, I crept up behind Ivor and smacked him with my sword, knocking him to the ground. He then proceeded to attack me, but I blocked his every move. Seriously? This guy is using a Swiftness potion and he still can't hit anything! Talk about horrible swordsmanship. I knocked him down easily.

He quickly sprang to his feet and ran to the edge of the room. "Now you see me! Now you-" he drank an Invisibility potion and turned invisible. Our eyes darted around the room, searching for any telltale sign as to where he could be. He chuckled darkly. Then he started throwing red Poison potions at us. We dodged the all of them. Then there was silence.

"Whatever you do, _don't_ let him leave!" Jesse told us.

"This one's on you, you puffed-up fool!" Ivor said, tossing a potion at us. Jesse caught the potion and threw it back in the direction it came from, just as Ivor reappeared. The potion hit him, and he stumbled backwards. "There's no time for this!" Ivor said angrily.

"Guys!" I heard Lukas call, the rest of the group was here!

"There's more of you?! Will this parade of useless babblers never cease?!" Ivor shouted.

"There you guys are!" Lukas said in a relieved tone.

"We found Ivor. We stopped him." Jesse told the gang. Magnus and Ellegaard were not with them.

"False. You have stopped _nothing_! A query, have you ever seen the effects of a splash-potion of slowness?" He shouted, pulling out another potion.

"What-" With a crash, the potion hit the floor. "- _are you talking about_?" Jesse said in slow motion.

Ivor started walking past us without a care in the world as we all ran in slow motion to try and catch him.

" _Come back here you big jerk_!" Axel said in slow motion.

" _Stop right there_!" Shouted Lukas in slow motion.

" _You won't get away with this_!" Jesse shouted after him.

Ivor paused outside the door and turned to us. "You think Magnus and Ellegaard can help you? That you can destroy the Wither Storm?! But you are mistaken, and it will cost them their lives!" He said, and the door shut, trapping us inside.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Katherine's POV

We all ran in slow motion towards the door as it shut in front of us. Axel tripped and started falling in slow motion.

" _Watch it_ \- get out of the way!" Lukas warned as the potion wore off. Axel fell to the floor with a loud thud. We all just stood there in silence for a second.

"Somebody, say something!" Jesse said.

Lukas looked towards the roof thoughtfully. "Hamburger."

"Donkey." Olivia said.

"Pants." Petra said.

"Floor." Axel grunted.

"supercalifragilisticexpialidocious." I said.

"Oink!" Reuben squealed happily.

Lukas chuckled and gave me a funny look.

"What?" I laughed, shrugging. I helped Axel off the floor as everyone started thinking of a plan to get out of the room.

"Now what are we gonna do?" Said Olivia as Petra walked over to the table in the middle of the room. Jesse went to see if she was okay.

I noticed that Petra's skin was a little more gray than usual. I hoped I didn't look like that. I didn't want to worry anyone.

"Guys! I have an idea!" Axel exclaimed after a few seconds.

"What is it?!" Lukas asked hopefully.

Axel turned towards the book wall. "Magnus! Help!"

Nothing happened. I shook my head.

"Well, I have another idea!" He said, turning back towards the book wall.

"Is it yelling for Ellegaard?" Olivia asked, facepalming.

"Well... Not anymore..."

"Face it guys. They're not coming back for us." Lukas said.

"Don't be desperate! Besides, they couldn't ditch us even if they wanted to! As long as we have..." Jesse said, searching in his pockets for something. He pulled out flint and steel.

"Flint and steel? I don't get it." Olivia said.

I backed away. "Jesse... I don't like where this is headed..." I told him.

"Hang on. That's not what I meant to pull out." He said, digging in his pockets again.

I sighed in relief. I had thought that he was about to burn the place to the ground.

"Hang on..." He pulled out the amulet. "Aha! This!" Jesse said triumphantly. Magnus's and Ellegaard's lights were growing dimmer.

"Maybe it's broken." Petra observed.

"Here, let me see it." Lukas said, trying to grab the amulet from Jesse's hands. The two boys started an amulet tug-of-war.

"Can I help you?!" Jesse asked angrily.

"Just let me see it!"

"You can see it without touching!"

"Not if you can't get it to work!"

"It's working fine!" Suddenly, the white bar started glowing and Lukas jumped backwards in surprise. "Soren!" Jesse said excitedly.

"Use the amulet to track him down!" I told Jesse.

He started roaming the room in search of where the light glowed brightest. He stopped at a place on the floor in front of the table. "Over here you guys! Jesse said. "Get ready to dig, people!"

"Wait. We don't know how far down that goes. We could be digging until we hit bedrock you guys!" Lukas argued.

We were silent as we thought about this.

All the thinking made Axel impatient. "PAI-GOW!" He shouted, breaking one of the stone blocks on the floor. "Let's get to digging!"

We dug a deep hole in the ground, Jesse and I were at the bottom, standing on a ledge looking down.

"Are we cool?" Axel asked from above.

"It's a hole!" Jesse called up to him.

 _No duh._ I thought, rolling my eyes.

"Does it mean we're cool?" Axel asked again.

"I'll find out!" Jesse replied. He jumped down and I followed him. We looked around for any danger. It seemed fine so far. Dark, but fine.

"Is it safe?" Olivia called.

"I think so!" Jesse said.

Olivia started climbing down. Jesse looked up at her, making sure she didn't fall. "Don't look up! I have to work up the nerve!" Olivia called down to us.

I saw the walls move and tugged on his sleeve. "Um... Jesse? The walls are moving..." I whispered.

"Wait!" Jesse warned Olivia.

"You better not be joking around right now..." Olivia grumbled.

A bunch of bats suddenly started flying at us from the shadows. I quickly drew my sword, but it was glowing brightly, and the handle was scalding hot, so I dropped it with a cry of pain. All the bats seemed to flee from the bright light and flew away down the tunnel. "Ow! What the heck is wrong with that thing?!" I said angrily, glaring down at my smoking sword. How had it not burned my pockets?!

"Are you okay?" Jesse asked. The burn on my hand was on the same arm as my wither infection.

"I'm fine. Really." I said, sticking out my foot to touch the sword lying on the ground.

"Be careful." Jesse warned me.

"I'll be fine." I replied, annoyed. I kicked it lightly, it didn't burn my shoe, so I went to grab it. It was a little warm, but it wasn't hot anymore. "I wonder what that was all about..." I said, staring at the sword in my hands. Was the bow going to do the same thing?

"Ooh… cool sword." Jesse complemented. I had forgotten that he had never seen it.

The others all jumped into the tunnel beside Jesse and me. Petra slipped a little as she fell. She was getting weaker by the minute.

"You okay?" I asked her.

"Fine. Just slipped." Petra told me, giving me a look that told me not to say anything.

"What's that smell?" Olivia asked, a disgusted look on her face.

"Just... Breath through your mouth." Petra told her.

"Axel already does that." Lukas said, smiling mischievously.

"Hey!" Axel glared at Lukas.

We walked farther down the tunnel and Lukas came up beside me. "You okay?" He asked.

I was cradling my withered arm against my chest, it was hurting again. "Yeah. I'm fine." Not meeting his gaze.

He looked at me skeptically. "You don't look okay, in fact, you look almost as sick as Petra."

"Uh, I don't know what you're... Woah..." I trailed off as I saw the tunnel end abruptly, below us were many other tunnels, some above us too. They all dumped into a large pit at the bottom. The pit was filled with water. It had a crusher on top.

 **(Lol I didn't know how else to describe it! Just use your imagination! Unless you have played the game...)**

"We have to get out of here!" Olivia shouted over the noise, staring down.

"But we just got here!" Axel argued.

"You don't understand! This is a grinder!"

I heard water rushing, and some skeletons were washed out of a nearby tunnel and into the grinder below, where they were crushed by all the pistons. All that remained was some bones and arrows that skeletons drop when they die. The loot was dropped into the water pit below.

"This isn't good." Jesse said.

Petra pointed behind us. "Creepers!" She shouted.

I drew my sword again. Luckily, it was back to its normal temperature. We started fighting the creepers. I killed some, but there was one more left by Jesse. It blew up and knocked him backwards, then water came through the tunnel and drenched us, causing the amulet to fly out of Jesse's hand and out of the hole in the wall that the creeper created when it exploded. We all stared in horror as the amulet clanged downwards.

"Was that-" Olivia began.

"The amulet. Yes." Jesse confirmed, running up to the hole in the wall.

"Are you gonna jump?" Lukas asked.

"Tuck 'n roll!" Jesse shouted, jumping down onto the roof of one of the tunnels below us.

"Show-off." I grumbled, following him. We ran along the roof of the tunnel. Petra knocked a creeper off it with her sword. We ran over to some stairs leading down to the roof of the next tunnel.

 **(yeah, there just HAPPENS to be some stairs... In a grinder no one is supposed to be in... I don't even know…)**

"This one's mine!" Jesse said, running up to a creeper and hitting it into a wall. The creeper exploded, and bunch of spiders came out of the hole it created.

I backed away to plan my attack and found myself next to Lukas. The others had left. The spiders grew closer and I held out my sword. We were trapped. There was air behind us and spiders in front of us. Luckily, just at that moment, a stream of water from one of the blown-up tunnels poured down behind the spiders, washing them over the edge. The only downside- it was taking us with it. "Hang on!" I shouted as the water rushed towards us. We both grabbed onto the ledge, but I made the mistake of grabbing the ledge with my whither-ridden arm. Every second hanging there got more and more painful, and I felt myself getting weaker, so I couldn't hang on for much longer.

The water poured over us, and I could only look down. It was a _long_ way down, and not only that, the grinder was at the bottom. So, if I fell, I would fall for about a good ten seconds, before being squished into a pulp. Fun.

The water kept on coming, and I felt my fingers slipping, bringing me closer to my impending doom. _Come on, just a few more-_ My thoughts were interrupted when a blinding spike of pain shot through my arm. I cried out, lost my grip, and fell.

Before I could plummet into the grinder below, Lukas grabbed my arm, pulling me up. It hurt _a lot_ , but it was better than being crushed. "Easy, easy, easy, I gotcha." Lukas said, hoisting me up.

"Thanks Lukas. I owe you!" I told him when we got to the top, trying to cover my pain with a smile. Since we were both drenched from head to toe, my tears were unnoticeable.

Lukas saw through my disguise though and looked at me worriedly. "I am so sorry! Did I hurt you?" He asked.

"I'm fine! We have bigger things to worry about right now, but thanks for apologizing." I told him, quickly running to the next tunnel so Lukas couldn't question me further.

Lukas's POV

 _Something is definitely wrong._ I Thought as Katherine ran off. I ran after her, just to make sure she was okay. Katherine had been increasingly distant lately, I hoped she was okay.

 _I can't let anything to happen to her._ Katherine was the first true friend I have ever had. I mean, sure, I had the other Ocelots, but they never really felt like _real_ friends; at least, not until I met Katherine and her friends, and saw how much they all cared for one another. Back with the Ocelots, if someone needed help, it was always "go do it yourself Gil!" or "Sorry, Maya, I'm too busy doing _cool_ stuff to help you right now."

Now that I thought of it, Aiden and Maya were always the ones to say that kind of stuff. Gil wasn't that mean, in fact, we got along quite well. I hope he's okay… But until I saw them again, I needed to help _these_ friends, even if they hated me for it.

So that was what I was going to do.

It had looked like Katherine had injured her arm somehow _. I wish she would let me help her, she can be so stubborn sometimes!_

I jumped off the top of one of the tunnels and found myself next to Jesse. "There's the amulet!" I pointed out, the amulet was on a stone ledge, but it was being pushed close to the edge by a current of water. Reuben and Axel were fighting off mobs not too far off.

"I have to help them!" Jesse cried.

"But what about the amulet?" I asked.

"You go get it!" Jesse told me, jumping off the tunnel and going to help his friends. I ran towards the amulet. Maybe this wouldn't be so hard after all, I apparently already had Jesse's trust. _They're counting on me. I can't fail. Maybe after I save the amulet Axel won't hate me as much, either._ It was wishful thinking, but, hey, it could happen. I snatched the amulet and hurriedly stuffed it in my pocket, so it couldn't get away again. I saw Jesse plummet off the edge and into the grinder below. Right before he was crushed, he grabbed a creeper and kicked it below him so that it blew up the smashers and he could fall into the water where the loot was sorted.

I was so distracted by watching Jesse's awesome heroics that a creeper I didn't even notice blew up right beside me, and I fell down the pit and into the water with him. My head broke the surface and I swam in a circle to see if everyone was there. One by one, the rest of them all fell into the water, Katherine fell in last.

She pushed her wet hair out of her face, and that's when I noticed that one of Kathy's eyes were blue. _Weren't they both silver before?_ I asked myself. Yep. They both used to be silver. I was one-hundred percent certain. My thoughts were interrupted by the strong pull of a current, forcing me and all the others into a hopper and through a narrow tunnel.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

 **(A/N: This is by far my longest chapter. Just FYI, it is 17 pages long. Also, I just wanted to say that I just realized chapter 2 was all screwed up. It is now fixed. I am so sorry for not checking through it before submitting it. My bad… I promise that from now on I will read through the entire chapter** _ **before**_ **submitting it. If something like that ever happens again, please don't be afraid to tell me! Thank you!)**

Lukas's POV

I fell down a waterfall of freezing water and into a loot room. Jesse was already there, and Reuben had landed on Jesse's back.

"Is everyone here? Are we all good?" Jesse asked.

"Well, I am _definitely_ not thirsty anymore." I said, squeezing out the water in my clothes. "Hey? Where's Axel and Kathy? I thought they were right-" I was interrupted by someone shouting, "Whoohoo!" And then I looked up in time to see Axel land on top of me.

"Oh, don't worry, I'm fine!" Axel said.

"Why?" I moaned.

Axel got off me. "Oh, I'm sorry!" He said, not really sorry. He looked at me then picked up a water-logged Reuben thoughtfully.

I tried to get up, but the floor was slippery, and I slipped back to the ground. "Hey? Where's Kathy?!" I asked worriedly. What if she was still traveling down a tunnel?! Humans only had a limited air supply! She could drown! "I'm gonna go look for her. Maybe she landed in a different room or something." I told them. After a moment, we heard the water turn back on.

"The grinder's back up." Olivia pointed out.

"With loot?" Axel asked hopefully. A whole bunch of mobs started falling through the opening.

"Run!" Jesse shouted. He pushed me to get me to move, but I was frozen in place. The monsters fell on top of us and we fell to the ground, and we all started being attacked by the monsters. "Come on!" Jesse shouted, running towards the door.

Katherine's POV

I felt like I was in that tunnel for an eternity before I was finally dropped into a dark room. "G-guys? Hello? Anyone?" I called. Once my eyes adjusted to the lack of light, I started to look for any way out of the room.

After a while of walking, I tripped over something lying on the ground, and fell to the floor. "Ow..." I looked at the thing I had tripped over and picked up the object to try to see it in the darkness. I couldn't see it, so I felt the sides for any clue as to what it could be. The mystery object was soft, it kinda felt like something wrapped in cloth. I put it in my back pocket. I could find out what it was later.

I rubbed my necklace subconsciously, then noticed something strange. _It had a button._ It was a very faint button, and I could barely even tell it was there, but it was. _How have I never noticed it before?_ Out of curiosity, I pushed the button. What was the worst that could happen? It started to vibrate, and made a loud, short 'BEEP!' and I screamed in surprise. It started glowing a dull teal blue color. Even though it barely gave off any light, I used it as a torch.

I pressed the button again. It stopped vibrating but kept glowing. I wound my way through the dark tunnel, hoping that I would be able to find my friends.

Before something else did.

Soren's POV

I wandered through the End, my specially-designed goggles allowing me to pass through the patch of Endermen without upsetting them. _Is it patch? Maybe herd, or pod. 'a pod of Endermen'… hmmm… I will have to classify it later._

I was on my way back to my lab to study them, and hopefully teach them how to build while doing so. _Endermen are quite fascinating, and with amazing building potential._ I thought.

As I was walking, I felt a vibration against my chest, a sensation I had begun to think was impossible years ago. Sure enough, as I pulled my ender pearl necklace out from under my shirt, I found it softly vibrating. _Could I be?! After all these years?!_ I thought elatedly. Suddenly the vibration was cut off. Could it had been a malfunction? It probably was... He continued up to his hideout. Hoping that it wasn't a malfunction, that his long-lost child was finally home, but at the same time he hoped it wasn't true.

If so…

The war had begun.

Katherine's POV

I finally spotted light and ran towards it. I burst out into the open. It was too bright to really see anything though. "Yes! I made- Oof!" I was cut off as someone ran into me from behind. "Ow... What the heck... I was just in the middle of a triumphant moment!" I complained.

"Kathy?! Is that you?!" The person that knocked me over asked. It was Lukas!

"Lukas?! I thought I lost you guys!" I exclaimed, hugging him as he helped me up, which I think surprised him. "N-no problem." He said, hugging me back. Yup, I definitely surprised him.

"Uh. Hate to break up your reunion... But, there are like, a million mobs chasing us right now so can you save it for later?" Jesse said, looking a little annoyed and desperate.

"There are?!" I asked, quickly pulling away and looking around. Yep. Lots of mobs. I turned tail and ran with the rest of the group. We were running through a hall, and eventually we came into a wide room with an archway on the side that led to an ender portal. I was running with the rest, when, all of a sudden, my arm starts to hurt again. I felt weak and fell over. "Not now!" I groaned.

Petra seemed to be having trouble too. She fell to the floor beside me. We were soon surrounded by mobs, and the rest of the group was already by the ender portal. "Stay behind me!" Petra said, drawing her sword. She was so weak that she had to hold it with two hands. We stood standing against the mobs for about ten seconds before we found ourselves sprawled on the floor, mobs reaching out for the killing blow.

"Get away from them!" Jesse shouted, killing a zombie that was about to eat our brains. He helped Petra up. "You guys okay?" He asked.

"We're *cough* fine, right Kathy?" Petra said.

"Yep. *Cough* one hundred percent!" I agreed, picking myself off the floor. Mobs surged towards us, and Jesse took Petra's hand and ran to the portal, with me right beside them. An arrow was shot alarmingly close to Reuben, and Jesse shouted, "jump!" Then disappeared into the portal. After a second we shrugged and jumped down too. As I was jumping through, I tripped and somersaulted through the portal instead. Yup. Clumsy old me. "Gah!" Lukas caught me on the other side. "Thanks... Again." I said.

"No problem!" He replied with a big smile. He wasn't putting me down. "Um... can you... uh. Put me down now...?" I asked, blushing.

"Oh, uh, I'm sorry..." He said, putting me down.

"Hey, where's Axel? I thought he was right behind me." Olivia said.

I heard a, "WHOOHOO!" from above. "Look out!" I said, shoving Lukas to the side so he wouldn't get squished again.

Axel landed where Lukas was just a heartbeat ago and rolled forward, jumping up and striking a pose. "Yeah! That was awesome! Did you guys see that?!" He said excitedly, turning to us.

"Wow. That was actually pretty impressive." I said, glad no-one had been squished into a pancake.

"Thanks for saving me from being squashed into oblivion. Now you owe me one." Lukas said.

"I do? Because, honestly," I sulked, "I forgot…"

"Well, you still owe me one." Then he looked confused. "Wait, wait, wait… are we even? Damn it, now you made me forget!"

"Let's just say I owe you one-"

"Is this _really_ going to be a game now?" Olivia asked.

"Yep. And I will even lock him in a tower until he grows a long enough beard for me to come up and rescue him if I have too!" I laughed.

Lukas glared at me playfully. "Not if I lock you up first!" he poked me in the ribs.

I gasped. "You wouldn't dare!" I laughed so hard that I started coughing again.

"You okay? You've seemed a little under the weather lately." Axel commented.

"Yeah. And you look a little... Paler... Like Petra." Olivia agreed.

"I- I'm fine! Really! You don't need to worry about me right now!" I said, trying to hold in another cough. But it escaped, and the others looked at me in concern. Suddenly Lukas buried his face in his hands and appeared to be crying. This made me confused. "Uh. Lukas? You don't need to cry. Really. It's fine." I said.

He uncovered part of his face to look at me incredulously. "I'm not crying! Just, look!" He said, pointing behind us. An Enderman was walking right behind me. I gave a little squeak of surprise.

"Hide!" Jesse whispered loudly. We all covered our eyes and ran behind a black obsidian outcrop. Endermen became hostile if you looked them in the eyes.

"What do we call that? A herd of Endermen? A flock?" Lukas asked.

"Um, how about… a murder of Endermen?" I suggested.

"Ooh, I like that."

"How about a crap-ton of Endermen?" Jesse said.

I laughed. "That works, that works."

"Let's hold off on the grammar lessons until later, shall we?" Olivia said, trying to hide a smile.

"Pull out the amulet, see if you can find Soren." I told him.

He pulled the amulet out, Soren's light started flickering. Jesse shook it and banged it against his hand to get it to work, but it blinked out instead and didn't come back on.

"Stuff like that doesn't work in the Nether. Probably not in the End either." Petra commented.

"Whoo... Man. So, we were trapped, and now, we're lost. Things just keep getting better and better." Lukas said sarcastically.

"I'm doing the best I can." Jesse told him.

"I don't doubt your motives Jesse. But your best might not be enough." Lukas said. "Face it! We're never gonna find this guy!"

"There he is." Axel said, as if it were a normal occurrence for long-lost people to suddenly appear not far off. Soren was climbing some stairs into a large obsidian dome. My mouth was hanging open.

"Did- did that just happen?! Am I the only one who's surprised?! Because, it's almost like we conjured him." Lukas said.

"That was like, almost on cue..." I said, lost for words.

"Okay everyone! Follow me! I'll get *cough cough* us to the other side! Just *cough* stay behind me!" Petra said.

"No. I should go." Jesse argued.

"You know what? I'll go!" Lukas said. I rolled my eyes. Really? _This_ again?

"Boys..." Olivia murmured in my ear.

"Tell me about it. Geez." I agreed. I decided to step forward. "I think that if Lukas wants a turn to play leader then he should get a turn." I chimed in.

Jesse sighed. "Fine." He grumbled.

Lukas beamed at me. "Thanks." He said. We made it across to the stone platform in front of the stairs in one piece.

"We made it!" I said triumphantly. I could almost hear triumphant music playing, congratulating us on all our hard work.

"Hey, thanks for giving me a shot. It means a lot to me." Lukas told me.

"Any time." I replied, smiling. We walked up to the spiral staircase and started climbing. I looked up at the starry, purple oblivion above. It was actually quite beautiful. Lukas walked beside me.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" He asked after a while.

"I was actually just thinking the exact same thing." I chuckled.

Lukas looked around to check if anyone was listening. "So, I noticed back in the grinder that you now have two different colored eyes, and I know that they weren't always like that. How did it happen?" He asked.

I struggled to think of an excuse. "I... Um... I don't know?" Was all I could come up with.

Lukas frowned at me. "Why do you keep lying to me? You can trust me you know. I'm not like the other Ocelots." He looked hurt.

"No! It's not like that! I would tell you... But... I just... Can't. I really want to though. But we have other things to worry about. I don't want you guys to be distracted from your mission." I told him.

He sighed. "Okay. But I'm keeping an eye on you." There was an awkward silence.

"So... Uh... How are you today?" I asked. I knew it was a really dumb thing to say, but I was out of ideas.

Lukas chuckled. "Scary. Really scary. How about you?" He asked.

"Same. Also, painful. But mostly scary. I guess scary isn't a good enough word for it... Maybe… frightening?" I said.

"Terrifying!" Lukas said.

"Horrible!" I countered.

"Horrific!" Lukas shot back.

"Another-word-that-means-almost-the-same-thing!" I said. Lukas laughed. I looked down to see the ground miles underfoot. "Woah... That's a long way down." I commented, looking over the edge.

Lukas took my hand. "Please don't do that! It freaks me out!" Lukas said.

I grinned mischievously. "What, _this_?" I said, sticking a toe over the edge.

Lukas glared at me. "You are so cruel."

I laughed. "Sorry, you're just so adorable when you're worried!" He tilted his head and gave me an odd look as I realized what I said, and I tried to rephrase. "I-I mean-it's-it's adorable, not you-I mean, you are adorable-but… I… mean, I'm not- I don't… uh…" I turned around and continued trudging up the staircase. _What the hell is wrong with me?! I'm blaming the Wither Sickness._

"I thought you hated it." He said after a minute, trying to start back up the conversation.

"I do."

A pause.

"Do you… want to talk about it…?" He tried.

"Nope."

"Okay…"

Another pause.

He looked at the ground and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Are you sure? We've got the time."

"No. Thank. You." _Man, this guy is relentless!_ I thought. I coughed and stopped for a minute to catch my breath as a wave of fatigue came over me. _Not again! Not now!_

"You okay?" Lukas asked me worriedly.

"I'm *cough cough* fine. Just need a *cough* second to *cough* catch my breath... *cough cough*."

"You are really scaring me Kathy..." Lukas said, looking more worried by the second.

"I'm fine, I'm fine, don't worry." I said, picking up the pace and walking faster, even though I felt like I was about to fall over.

"It's hard not to. You look like you're sick." He said, taking hold of my hand.

"I'll be okay, really." I told him, jerking my hand back and wrapping my arms around myself.

Jesse suddenly exclaimed, "Look! It's a... Ladder." He finished disappointedly.

"It better not be a long one..." Axel complained.

"Only one way to find out..." Jesse replied, climbing up the ladder. He opened the trap door and climbed onto whatever land was above.

"You see anything Jesse?" Olivia asked.

"Please don't say more stairs..." I said tiredly, earning another worried yet suspicious look from Lukas. I had a strong urge to shove him off a cliff, which surprised me. _What is wrong with me? Lukas is my friend! I'm not going to shove him off a cliff!_

"I think I'm hallucinating..." Jesse replied from above.

My curiosity got the best of me and I climbed the ladder. When I got to the top I had to shield my eyes from all the light, but when my eyes had adjusted, I took in my surroundings with awe. It looked just like home! "It's beautiful! I think I'm dead!" I said, walking to an open area and falling on my back. The ground was as soft as wool. I sighed in pleasure.

A shadow fell over my head and I opened one eye to see Lukas hovering over me. Man, would he ever leave me alone? "What are you doing?" He asked.

"I'm in paradise! Now... I'm gonna take a nice long nap and all the pain will just go away..." I said happily.

He plopped down beside me, only about an inch away. "Wow... It really is soft..." He said.

Olivia walked over to us right as I was about to move to a different spot. "Aw! You two are so _cute-_ "

"No, we're not! We're just taking a nap!" I said.

"... A nap huh? _Together…?_ " Olivia said.

"Stop."

"But-"

"Nope."

"You-"

"Uh, uh."

"Are-"

"Don't say it Olivia!"

" _in love!_ "

"Stop. No. Just-just go away!" I said, this was _embarrassing._ Why would she even think that?!

Olivia giggled. "If you say so..." She said, creeping away.

"Don't speak of this to _anyone_!" I said, and Olivia ran off. I groaned. "She's gonna tell everyone... I'm dead."

"Let's get back to the others." Lukas said. "It'll be less suspicious that way."

"Alright." I said, and we walked back to the others.

Olivia was feeling the ground. "The ground is so soft... It's... Squishy. Like carpet."

"Wait a second... This is wool! The dirt, the trees! It's all... Wool." Jesse said.

"You mean, we've been resting all our hopes on this guy, and, the whole time he's been building some, totally artificial happy-land?!" Lukas shouted angrily.

"It's kinda impressive." Jesse pointed out.

"Impressively _bananapants_!" Lukas shouted. "That's it! I've had enough crazy for one day!" He said, storming off.

"What's gotten into him?" Olivia asked.

"Just, give him some space." Jesse said. I saw a lit-up cloud suddenly turn off. Jesse noticed it too.

"What was that?" I asked him.

"I don't know." He replied.

"I'm gonna look around for anyway Soren could've escaped." I told him.

"Me too." He said. I walked into the 'forest' and searched for any hidden mechanisms. Jesse went to ask the others. My arm started hurting again, so I crouched behind a tree where no one could see me and pulled up my sleeve to check on my infection. The purple mark had spread, it now reached from just above my wrist to just above my shoulder. "Ow. It's just a purple mark... I'll be okay..." I told myself. I pulled my sleeve back over my infection and continued looking.

I came across a small pond with actual water in it. "Well, at least there's _one_ real thing in here..." I said to myself. I looked at my reflection in the pond. Olivia was right... I _was_ a bit paler...

"Why didn't you tell me?" I jumped at the sound of Lukas's voice and nearly fell into the water.

"Tell you what?" I asked, turning to him. I put on my most innocent face.

"You're sick." He replied.

I looked down at the ground guiltily. "I didn't want to worry you guys." I said.

"Well, now I'm even more worried!" He told me.

I sighed in defeat. "Please don't freak out." I pulled up my sleeve and showed him the large, pale-purple mark on my arm.

His eyes widened in worry. "Kathy... You need help! We need to tell the others! We can help you!"

"This is why I didn't want to tell anyone about this! I don't want you guys to worry over me! We have bigger problems! I can wait!" I told him.

"I know... But for how long?" Lukas said in a small voice.

"I- I- I don't know... but I'm fine! I will... _probably_... most likely… 85%... maybe… live?" I said, giving a shrug.

"That was one of the saddest sentences I have ever heard." Lukas said.

I was on the verge of bursting into tears. "I know..." I said. Lukas gave me a hug. "I am _so sorry_ for not telling you sooner... Petra, Jesse, and I promised to keep this a secret."

"It's okay. I understand." Lukas told me. "Are there any other life-changing secrets you want to share?" Lukas asked me in a joking way.

"Actually... maybe. But you will be the only person I have _ever_ shown this to. So, you have to keep it a secret, okay? Do you think you can handle it?"

"Bring it."

"Promise you won't tell _anyone else._ I'm not even sure that _I'm_ supposed to be showing you this." I told him, stepping back and taking a stick out of my pocket.

"Alright, as long as it's not life-threatening, I'll keep your secret." Lukas said.

"Great! Come over here." I hid behind a group of trees and he followed, looking slightly concerned. "Okay, now, don't freak out-okay?" I said.

"What exactly are you-"

I threw the stick in the air and caught it with my mind before it could fall to the ground.

"Woah…"

"I know right?"

"You have a magic stick…"

"What? A magic stick-no!" I twirled it in a circle. "That's _me_."

Lukas's mouth fell open. "How. Are. You. _Doing._ That?!" He waved his hands around, checking for any strings.

"Actually… the funny thing is, I've never tried it outside in the real world. I first learned how to do it when I passed out back in the forest by the temple." I told him.

"Wow. That's _incredible_!"

I sighed in relief. "Phew. For a minute there I thought you were gonna flee in terror." I said, making spooky gestures with my hands for emphasis.

"Are you kidding me?! I've never seen anything like it! How big are the objects you can lift?" He asked.

"Well, I've only tried it on an apple and a stick... but I bet I can lift a wool block!" I said, trying to lift one off the ground. It was a little harder but got it into the air. I tried picking up both the wool and the stick at the same time. This was fun! "Ha! This is fun!" I exclaimed- then I got an idea. "Ooh! I'm gonna try to fly now!" I said, beaming with excitement.

"Uh. You sure that's a good idea? You could get hurt." Lukas said.

"I'll be okay! Besides! I've never flown before!" I said. I focused really hard and I felt myself slowly rising. "Oh... ma... gawd! I'm flying Lukas! I'm flying!"

"That's great, Kathy! But... do you know how to get down?" He asked.

My smile instantly vanished. _Damn_ I was dumb! What the hell was I thinking?

"Um... no?" I said, slowly rising. I was almost above the trees now. _Okay, how did I do this before?_ Well, usually, the objects would just stop floating as I either 1, passed out from exhaustion, which I did _not_ want to do right now, or 2, I lost interest. I decided on the latter, focusing all my thoughts on puppies.

A spike of pain shot up my arm, and fatigue overwhelmed me. I guess being in a focused mental state made the pain worse. It was unbearable. "Ow!" I cried, and my focus diminished, causing me to fall to the ground and land right on my face. At least the ground was wool.

"Are you okay? What happened?" Lukas asked, helping me to my feet.

"It's this _stupid_ Wither infection! It keeps hurting randomly for _no reason_!" I said, clutching my arm tightly to my chest and wishing the pain away.

Lukas took my arm and pulled up my sleeve, the infection had gotten about an inch bigger. "It's getting worse!" He said.

"Please be careful. It hurts _a lot_." I told him. I started coughing.

"I am so sorry. I hate what the Wither Storm has done to you." Lukas told me.

"It's *cough* okay." I replied.

"How much does it hurt?"

"Well, if I don't move, or don't breathe it's just about bearable." I said.

Lukas pulled me into another hug. "I promise. I will do everything I can to help you." He said.

"Thank you, Lukas. It means a lot to me."

Lukas backed away and took a deep breath. "Um, remember what you said in the temple, back when we were exploring? When you said to tell someone how you feel before the chance slipped away?"

"…yes?" I lied, struggling to remember what it was he was talking about. It's hard to focus when you're in excruciating pain.

"Well, Kathy? I just wanted you to know… I-"

Before he could finish, Jesse burst into the clearing, nearly falling over with excitement. "Guys! We found the way out! You should- um... What happened?" He asked.

"I-um. Fell on my face." I told him.

Jesse raised an eyebrow. "Uhhuh... Anyway! Come on!" He said, running away. I started to follow him.

"Are you coming, Lukas?" I asked, turning back to him.

"Um... Yeah. Coming." He said. He looked a little frustrated.

"Are you okay…?"

"Yeah."

We walked over to a blue wall, which now had a wide, square shaped hole in it. On the other side was what looked kinda like the inside of a restaurant. "Wow. This looks cozy." I commented, looking at my surroundings. There was a water fountain in the middle of each room, and tables and chairs off to the sides, lined up against the walls. Glowstone chandeliers hung from the roof.

After a moment of wandering around the room, I found a door. The door led to a library. I stared in awe at all the books. I liked Soren already! I walked to a random shelf and picked up a random book. The title read: _How to make a tracking device._ "Huh." I said to myself, using telekinesis to put the book back on the shelf and rubbing my necklace thoughtfully. I searched the other books for any clues as to where he could be. Who knows? Maybe he left a sticky note. _'leaving to get groceries, anyone who wants to see me can wait in the restaurant!'_.

I saw another book lying open on a desk against the wall. I walked closer, it was a journal.

 _Ooh… a journal…_ The naughty part of me thought.

 _NOPE. I'm not gonna look._ The good part of me said.

 _But it could tell you where Soren is…_

 _No, it's wrong. I'm not gonna read his journal, that's just rude!_

I read the journal:

 _9-26-2015_

That was my birthday! It had only been a few months ago. I kept reading.

 _Today is Delilah's birthday, but I still can't seem to locate her. For the meantime, I am studying Endermen. Maybe they can help me._

 _Earlier I made a discovery! My ender pearl necklace tracking device went off! Which either means it was my long-lost daughter, or someone else who stole her tracking device. I really hope it was the first._

 _I am very, very lonely._

That was the end of the chapter. Now that I think of it, I remember that Aiden had tried to steal my necklace as a cruel joke once. On my birthday. Maybe he accidentally set it off. I shook my head. _Aiden is such a-_

"Why are you crying?" Someone asked.

"Ahhhh!" I screamed. It was Lukas. "You can't just sneak up on me like that! I nearly had a heart attack!" I shouted angrily.

"Sorry, were you… crying?" Lukas asked.

I then realized that I _had_ been crying. I guess I was just so lost in thought that I didn't notice. "I was... Reading." I told him.

"Reading what?" He asked. I pointed to the journal lying on the desk. He went over to read it. "Huh. I never knew that Soren had a daughter. I wonder who it is." Lukas said thoughtfully. I chuckled. "Did you know that Soren's daughter was born on the same day you were? That's interesting." He said.

"Mhmhm." I replied, looking around at other books. I saw a pretty silver one on a very high shelf. I used telekinesis to lift it.

"Woah!"

Lukas's exclamation scared me out of my concentration and the silver book, which was a lot bigger than I had thought, fell on top of me and squished me on the floor. "What is it?" I groaned, trying to push the book of my chest.

"Soren was married!" He told me.

I sat bolt upright, the giant book sitting in my lap. "What's the wife's name?!" I asked excitedly. I was finally about to know my mother's name! What did she look like? Maybe she looked just like me! Maybe I know her!

"It's too faded to read..."

"Oh." I said disappointedly. Welp, there goes any hope of me finding out who my mother is. She could be a fudging _duck_ for all I knew.

"What's wrong?" Lukas asked, helping me lift the over-sized book of my lap.

"I was just hoping that there would be a name."

Lukas took my hand and helped me up. "Do you want to check the rest of the journal? Maybe it's repeated somewhere else in the book." Lukas said.

"Okay." I said, brightening up. All wasn't lost! We walked over to the book and flipped through the pages. "There! It says: 'Wedding day'!" I replied, giddy with excitement.

 _2-23-1988_

 _I'm so excited! Today is finally the wedding day! We have been dating for three years now and I finally worked up the courage to propose! We both love each other immensely, and I know we are meant to be together. Who knows? Someday I can resign from the Order and we can have a child. Now! I must get ready for the wedding! I will write another entry after the wedding!_

 _I love you Ellie, and I always will._

Ellie… that's a pretty mother name. it rang a bell… something familiar about it.

A small voice in my head peeped: Didn't Magnus call Ellegaard 'Ellie'?

Then it hit me.

I gasped in surprise. _My mother is Ellegaard?!_ I thought. My mind was spinning. That's why she had looked so familiar back at the temple! That was my mother! How could I not have known?! She was _right there_! I felt dizzy, the questions in my mind spinning like a hurricane. Why didn't she try to find me? In the books, the mother and daughter knew each other _instantly_ , so isn't that what's supposed to happen in real life, too? Does she even love me? The earliest memory I have is when I woke up in that forest, did my parents leave me there? Did they not want me? What did I do? It couldn't have been much, I was only seven. Was I some sort of super-young evil scientist?!

"Are you okay? You look pale. And by that, I mean you look paler than you did before." Lukas said, putting a steadying hand on my back.

"I-I'm fine. I think it's just the Wither Sickness or something..." I told him, even though I knew it wasn't.

"We should go find the others, Jesse and Petra will know what to do." Lukas said, taking my hand and leading me out the door. We found them where we left them, well, everyone except for Jesse and Reuben. We asked where they were, and Olivia said she left them in the Enderman observatory. She told us where the door was, and Lukas led the way.

We barged into the room, Axel, Olivia, and Petra following. Jesse was standing next to Reuben. He was wearing a black bodysuit and looked like he wanted to die. Soren was standing not far off, it looked like he was in the middle of some sort of a dance lesson.

"Wait, is that? Are-are you? _Soren_?!" Lukas asked in awe. I half hid behind Axel, scared to confront my father. Lukas walked up to Jesse and grabbed his hand, dragging him over to see a very pale and sick Petra, and I guess me, still sort of hiding behind Axel.

"Hello, Soren." Petra said, then she coughed.

"You look terrible!" Soren commented, shaking his head. This earned a glare from Petra. Axel shifted, which destroyed my hiding spot. Soren and I stared at each other for a moment.

"Um… hi?"

"C-could it be…? After all these years…?"

"Uh… maybe…?"

"D-Delilah?!" He asked.

Suddenly, the first seven years of my life flashed before my eyes. I remembered riding horses, I remember Gabriel handing me a large diamond sword, causing me to topple over, Ellegaard showing me Redstone basics, Soren telling me all about Endermen, or the things he had created. I remembered Magnus handing me a block of TNT and a flint-and-steel, which I set off, and I remembered Soren and Ellegaard rushing over to me and throwing the activated explosive out the window. I even remembered Ivor showing me some potion combinations… I could remember everything!

 _Well, everything_ except _for how the hell I got in that tree,_ a voice in my head whispered.

"D-daddy?!" I said. Soren opened his arms and I ran into them. My friends all stared in confusion at the scene unfolding before them.

"I thought I would never see you again!" Soren exclaimed, holding me tightly, as if I was about to disappear in thin air.

"I remember now! I remember everything!" I said as even more memories flooded my mind. I could remember all the bedtime stories, the games, the ice-cream cones, being swung from my parents' arms on walks... It was like the memories were always there.

"What's going on? Did I miss something?" Jesse asked. Everyone, even Reuben, had extremely confused looks on their faces.

"Kathy? _You're_ Soren's long-lost daughter?!" Lukas asked in disbelief.

Cloud had been right! "I am! I remember now! I remember my childhood!" I said, breaking from the embrace and facing Lukas, tears of joy streaming down my face. Lukas looked behind me and his face turned from confusion to horror.

I looked over my shoulder to see Endermen start to fill the room, their cries filling my ears.

" _Don't follow Life!"_

" _The Beginning is no place for you!"_

" _Follow Death! Where true greatness is made!"_

" _He will show you what power is like!"_

I backed away in terror as one of the Endermen stuck out their hand. _"Join us, and together, a NEW legacy will be born!"_

Lukas took my hand. "Hide!" He said, I covered my eyes with my hands, even though I could apparently look them in the eyes without being torn to shreds. We quickly crept out of the room. But when we made it out the door, we were greeted by even more Endermen.

"And the hits just keep on comin'." Jesse said.

"I wasn't expecting so many houseguests! There's no way I have enough seashell soaps for all of them!" Soren exclaimed.

"We need to come up with a plan! And not a 'we'll-come-up-with-a-plan-later-OH-NO-NOW-WE-HAVE-TO' kinda plan!" Lukas shouted.

"Shhh!" Olivia scolded. Lukas fell silent.

"We need to break the fountain." Jesse said, pointing to the fountain in the middle of the room.

"Of course! Endermen hate water! If we can break that fountain, then all the Endermen will disperse! It's the perfect plan!" Soren said. "Jesse! You still have the Enderman costume! Put it on!"

"Just when I thought I wouldn't have to smell this again..." Jesse muttered, putting an Enderman helmet on. It was kinda creepy.

"Good luck dude!" Axel called.

"We'll watch from here! Where its safe!" Soren called after him.

Jesse had only taken a couple steps before an Enderman teleported in front of him. Jesse turned away, forgetting that he was in an Enderman costume and that they wouldn't go hostile. The Enderman just walked casually away.

"Try not to die!" Soren called. Jesse looked back at him with a, 'ya think?' look written all over his face.

He made it to the fountain and started breaking the blocks. When the last block broke, water came spilling out. All the Endermen on the ground in the water's wake immediately teleported onto the upper level, hissing angrily. We ran across to the last room, there were Endermen there too. The water from the first fountain couldn't reach this far, so Endermen were everywhere.

"Oh crap." I said.

"We're gonna die." Lukas said.

"No one's going to die! 'Cuz I'm gonna break that other fountain!" Jesse said. Walking over to the fountain and breaking it. Water poured through the room, the Endermen went to the second level and we ran past Jesse and through the door. We stopped outside and looked down, there were more in the wool happy-land. "What's the holdup?" Jesse asked, pushing past us. "Oh crap."

"How are we going to get through this? I mean, physically and psychologically." Lukas asked.

"Everyone, look down and hold on to me. I'll guide us through them." Jesse said. We all got in a conga line, Jesse in front, me next, then Lukas, Axel, Petra, Olivia, Soren, and Reuben was somewhere in between.

"Well, I guess if this is the only way we're gonna make it to the trap door..." Lukas said, putting his arms on my shoulders. I put my un-Withered arm on Jesse's shoulder, and so on. We slowly made our way too the trap door, but as we were crossing the wooden bridge across the river, an Enderman teleported in front of us. He bent down over Jesse.

"This guy's right in my face!" Jesse said.

Lukas's hand found my withered one and squeezed it tightly. It was painful, but comforting, nonetheless. Suddenly, the Enderman screamed. We broke apart and ran in every direction.

"Everyone! Into the water!" Jesse shouted, breaking the fence so we could jump into the river below. We all started swimming downstream.

"Now what?" I asked Soren.

"Well, when I built this, I wondered how flammable my building material was, and invented a water system to prevent the whole place from going up in flames." Soren explained.

"So, there's more water?" Jesse asked.

"Lots more. If you can activate it, then we can disperse the Endermen and make it to the trap door!" Soren conceded.

"Where is it?"

"Over there." Soren pointed to a large wooden fountain with a lever on top.

Jesse swam to the fountain and climbed up a ladder on the side. When he got to the top, he flipped the lever, causing the ground to shake violently. "Okay, I don't know how much water this thing is gonna kick up, so everybody -"the tremors threw him from the top of the fountain before he could finish, and he landed in the water with a giant splash. The water started to rise higher and higher, and I had the un-fortune of being under a tree at that moment. The water rose so fast that it caused me to get caught under it. I quickly swam out from under the tree and towards the trap door. The others were already most way there.

My foot got caught on something. It was a stupid tree! Why the tree?! WASN'T THIS THE SAME FUDGING TREE I _JUST_ GOT OUT FROM UNDER?! I'm gonna die! I tugged and tugged on my foot, but I couldn't get free. I started to panic. I felt arms wrap around my waist and help pull me free before my last three bubbles went out. It was Jesse! He didn't forget about me! We swam towards the trap door, then climbed down the ladder and swam through the end portal and back to the Overworld.


End file.
